s^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) / O 1 % 1.0 I.I Ui Ui 12.2 S 144 ■" :!f 1^ 12.0 1^ K Mil 1.25 il.4 1.6 ^^ ^ > / y^ O 7 Photographic Sdences Corporation ^'4^ 93 WIST MAIN STRUT WHSTIR.NY. MSM (716) ■7r4S03 4^> CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Inatituta for Hiatoricai Microraproductions / Institut Canadian da microraproductiona hiatoriquaa Technical and Bibliographic Notas/Notas tachniquas at bibliographiquas Tha Institute has attamptad to obtain tha bast original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. D D D D D n D Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur I I Covers damaged/ Couverture endommagte Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaur^ et/ou pelliculAe □ Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Coloured maps/ Cartes giographiquas en couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encra de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) I I Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ D Planches et/ou illustrations an couleur Bound with other material/ RaliA avac d'autras documents Tigh t binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La r« Mure serrAe peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distorsion la long da la marga intiriaura Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within tha text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certainas pages blanches ajouties lors d'une restauration apparaissant dans la texte. mais, lorsqua cela *tait possible, ces pages r'ont pas «t« film«as. Additional comments:/ Commentairas supplAmantairas: L'Institut a microfilm* le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a iti possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-Atre uniques du point de vue bibliographique. qui peuvent modifier une icnaga reproduite. ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans !a mithoda normale de filmage sont indiquis ci-dessous. r~n Coloured pages/ D Pagea da couleur Pages damaged/ Pages endommagtos Pages restored and/oi Pages restaur^! et/ou peliiculAes Pages discoloured, stained or foxei Pages dAcoiories, tachaties ou piquies Pages detached/ Pages ditachies Showthrough/ Transparence Quality of prir Qualiti inigale de I'impression Includes supplementary matarii Comprend du material suppiimantaira Only edition available/ Seule idition disponible p~l Pages damaged/ |~~1 Pages restored and/or laminated/ r~~n Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ [~n Pages detached/ rj] Showthrough/ I I Quality of print varies/ I I Includes supplementary material/ p~l Only edition available/ T s T d ei bi rii ri nn Pages wholly or partinily obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been ref limed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiallement obscurcies par un fauillet d'errata. une pelure, etc.. ont M filmies A nouveau de fapon A obtanir la mailleure image possible. This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est filmi au taux de reduction indiqu* ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 2ex 30X y 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X 9 ktails ■ du lodifier r una Image The copy filmad hare hat b««n r«produc«d thanks to the ganaroaity of : Douglas Library Quaan's Univarsity Tha imagas appaaring hara ara tha baat quality posslbia conaidaring tha condition and lagibility of tha original copy and in kaaping with tha filming contract spacif Icatlona. Original copias in printad papar covara ara fllmad baginning with tha front covar and anding on tha last paga with a printad or illustratad impras- sion, or tha back covar whan appropriata. All othar original copiaa ara fiimad Itaginning on tha first paga with a printad or illuatratad impras- sion, and anding on tha last paga with a printad or illustratad Imprassion. L'axamplaira film* fut raproduit grAca A la ginArosit* da: Douglas Library Quaan's University Laa imagaa sulvantas ont At* rtoproduitas avac le plus grand aoin, compta tanu da la condition at da la nattatA da raxamplaira filmA, at mn conformltA avac laa conditions du contrat da fllmaga. Laa axampiairas orlglnaux dont la couvartura en paplar ast imprimAa sont filmAs an commandant par la premier plat at an tarminant soit par la darnlAra paga qui comporta una empreinte d'impraaalon ou d'iilustration, soit par le second plat, aalon la cas. Tous lea autres axampiairas orlglnaux aont fiimAa an commen9ant par la pramlAra page qui comporte une empreinte d'Impresslon ou d'iilustration at en terminant par la darnlAre paga qui comporte une telle empreinte. The iaat recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol -^ (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol y (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Un des symboles suivants apparaftra sur la darniAre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols — ► signifle "A SUIVRE", le symbols ▼ signifle "FIN". IVIaps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction retios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many framaa as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Lea cartas, planchaa, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre filmAs A des taux de rAduction diff Arents. Lorsqus le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA, 11 est filmA A pertir de I'angia supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut an bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Laa diagrammas suivants iiluatrant la mAthode. rrata to peiure, r> A 3 32X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 I i' « f SUGAR LOAF OR PYRAMID ROCK. ■ ^ - J ,-■.•,.-.- p , , , , , Old jiND Hew M/ckiuac: WITH COPIOUS EXTRACTS FROM Marquette, Hennepin, La Hontan, Alexander Henry, AND OTHBRa I " Beauteous Isle I I sing of thee, Mackinac, my Mackinac ; Thy lake-bound shores I love to see, Mackinac, my Mackinac. From Arch Rock's height and shelving steep 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, ray Mackinac. Now Freedom's flag above thee waves, And guards the rest of fallen braves. Their requiem sung by Huron's waves, Mackinac, my Mackinac." By rev. J. ^. VAN FLEET, M.A. H r///JtD EDITION. :^ \k%l^ GRAND RAPIDS, MICH : PRINTftD AT "THR LRVRR " BOOK AND JOB OFPtCI. 1880. % s?.; f-i ] L? V^7a.\A\lo\la. n Kntered. acoordinB to Act of CongreM, in tha Ytar 1874, BY J. A. VAN FLEET, In the OiSoe of the Librarian of CongrcM, at Waibinglon. - % - Preface. IN the preparation of. this little volume, I have careiiilly exam- ined the following works: Holmes's American Annals, two volumes ; Robertson's History of America ; Bancroft's United States; Bell's Canada, two volumes; Albach's Annals of the West; Lahn- man's Michigan; Sheldon's Early Michigan; Historical and Scien- tific Sketches of Michigan; Neill's Minnesota; Smith's Wisconsin, three volumes; Wynne's General History of the British Empire; Rogers's Concise Account of North America ; Dillon's Early Settle- ment of the North-western Territory; Heriot's Canada; Parkman's Pontiac; Parkman's Discovery of the Great West; Schoolcraft's Works, complete; Documentary History of New York, complete; Palmer's Historical Register, 1814; Shea's Discovery and Explo- ration of the Mississippi ; also. Shea's Catholic Missions ; Henne- pin ; La Hontan, two volumes ; Charlevoix, two volumes ; Alexander Henry; Carver; Disturnell; Newcomb's Cyclopaedia of Missions; American Missions to the Heathen; Geological Reports by Foster and Whitney, and by Professor Winchell ; Thatcher's Indian Biog- raphy, two volumes ; Strickland's Old Mackinaw ; Drake's North- em 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 181 2 in its con- nection with this island. These gentlemen were boys of from twelve to fifteen years of age at the time, and were eye-witneuet 30642.07 4 PREFACE. of all that passed. Thetr account agrees, in every important partic- ular, with the official returns of Comntodore Sinclair and Colonel Croghan; but is, of course, much more minute. Several other citizens of the plate have likewise rendered val- uable assistance in matters falling within the scope of their recol- lection. I also desire to acknowledge my obligation to Edgar Conkling, Esq., of Mackinac City, for valuable notes and sugges- tions, 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. ■'*'^^'^fiA^.., CLEVCIANO. CHAPTER I. JESUIT HISTORY. THE first pale-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 Kaymbault and Isaac Jogues. In 1641, these two men visited the Chippewas at the Sault, and established a mission among them ; but Raymbault soon after fell a victim to consumption, and the enterprise was abandoned. Desperate Indian wars, which soon followed, prevented any further attempt to establish 5 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. 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, and by their united exertions a church was soon built. This was the first permanent settlement made on the soil of Michigan. During that same year, Marquette repaired to Lapointe, near the western extremity of Lake Suijerior, leaving Dablon to con- tinue 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 dili- gently studied the language, hoping that he would be permitted to visit that people in the following Fall. B>:t in this he was doomed to disappointment. A war which broke out between the Sioux and tie Hurons and Ottawas, compelled 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 "re- meml . 'ng 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 establishment of a mission for the spiritual good of his savage followers. While making the necessary preparations for the erection of a chapel and the per- manent founding of his colony, he dwelt on this island. The following extract is from a letter written by Marquette in 1 67 1, and published in the Relations des Jesuits of that year: JESUIT HISTORY. " Michilimackinac is an island famous in these regions, of more than a league in diameter, and elevated in some places by such high cliffs as to be seen more than twelve leagues off. It is situated just in the strait forming the communication between Lake Huron and Illinois (Michigan). It is the key and, as it were, the gate for ail the tribes from the south,, as the Sault is for those of the north, there being in this section of country only those two passages by water ; for a great number 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 fishes;, 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, besides the fish common to all the other 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 can not 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 lake 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 m this country, driven away by fear of the Iroquois. The three tribes at pres- ent living on the Baydes Fttants (Green Bay) as strangers, for- merly 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, had their abode on the main-land at the west, and the others looked upon this place as their country for passing the Winter, when there are no 8 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. fish at the Sault. The Hurons, called Eionontathronnons, have lived for some years id the same island, to escape 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 numer- ous that some of the survivors yet living here assure us that they once had thirty villages, all inclosed in a fortification of a league and a half in circuit, when the Iroquois came and de- feated 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 to this point, so convenient for a return to their own country, and will follow fhe 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 neigh- borhood, we ourselves have also wintered here, in order to make arrangements for establishing the Mission of St, Jgnace^ 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. " With these advantages, the place has also its inconven- iences, particularly for the French, who &ie not yet familiar, as are the savages, with the different kinds of fi';^'ery, in which JESUIT HISTORY. the latter are trained from their birth ; the winds and the tides occasion no smrtance 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 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 ■■'^- \ lO OLD AND NEW MACKINAC, of the Bourbon 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 Miamis at Chicago, on the same mission of friendshi . 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 Sc. 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. Tlius, 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. Father, — ^The Hurons, called Tionnontateronnons, or Petun Nation, who compose the Mission of St. Ignatius at Michilimackinong, began last year near the chapel a fort inclosing 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 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 ^-^: t j JESUIT HISTORY. # in which they were nurtured. God alone can fix these fickle minds, and place and keep tiiem 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 C.istians 3 they bring their children to the chapel to be bapti:&cd, and come regularly to prayers. " Having 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, and invited them to thank God, who gave them food in plenty, while other tribes that had not yet embraced Christianity were actually struggling with famine. I ridiculed dreams, and urged those who had been baptized to acknowledge Him whose adopted children they were. Those who gave the feast, though still idolaters, spoke in high terms of Christianity, and openly made the sign of the cross before aU present. Some young men, whom they had tried by ridicule to prevent from doing it, per- severed, and make the sign of the cross in the greatest assemblies, v";ven when I am not present. " An Indian of distinction among the Hurons, having in- vited me to a feast where the chiefs were, called them severally by nam*;, and told them that he wished to declare his thoughts, that all might know it, namely, that he was a Christian ; that he renounced the god of dreams and all their lewd dances ; u OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. I- that the black-gown was master of his cabin ] and that for nothing that might happen would he forsake his resolution. Delighted to hear this, I spoke more strongly than I had evei yet done, telling them that my only design was to put them in the way of heaven ; that for this alone I remained among them ; that this obliged me to assist them at the peril of my life. As soon as any thing is said in an assembly, it is immediately divulged through all the cabins, as I saw in this case by the assiduity of some in coming to prayers, and by the malicious efforts of others to neutralize my instructions. • "Severe as the Winter is, it does not prevent the Indians from coming to the chapel. Some come twice a day, be the wind or cold what it may. Last Fall I began to instruct some to make general confessions of their whole life, and to prepare others who had never confessed since their baptism. I would not have supposed that Indians could have given so exact an account of all that had happened in the course of their life ; but it was seriously done, as some took two weeks to examine themselves. Since ther. I have perceived a marked change ; so that they will not go even to ordinary feasts without asking my permission. "I have this year baptized twenty-eight children, one of which had been brought from Ste. Marie du Sault, without having received that sacrament, as the Rev. F. Henry Nouvel informed me, to put me on my guard. Without my knowing it, the child fell sick j but God permitted that, while instructing in my cabin two important and sensible Indians, one asked me whether such a sick child was baptized. I went at once, bap- tized it, and it died the next night. Some of the other children, too, are dead, and now in heaven. These are the consolations which God sends us, which make us esteem our life more happy as it is more wretched. " This, Father, is all I have to give about this mission, 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 JESUIT HISTORY. •^ 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 Mississippi had attracted the attention of the French Government, and through the influence of M. Talon, the intendant, a resolution 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 6f California, hoped, in discovering that river, to find also a short pussage 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 preparation for putting it into execution. Sieur Joliet was designated as the agent of the French Gov- ernment to carry out the design, and Marquette was to accom- pany 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 "Dis- covery and Exploration of the Missfssippi 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 Joliet; 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 knowledge of the languages of the Ottawa country, where he had spent 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 expectations 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 the Sault St. Louis, near Montreal, where he lost his men and papers, and only escaped, by a kind of miracle, with his life — %A.t success of his voyage had left nothing to be desired.*' K OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. When the Ottawa flotilla of 1672 brought back from Quebec the news that his long-cherished desire was about to begratifiod, 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 impaired by the trials and privations which had fallen to his lot, but no consideration of personal safety could deter him from his purpose. It even gloried in the prospect of martyrdom. Joliet, at length, 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 nar- rative, 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 word 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 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 JESUIT HISTORY. be foolhardily. For this reason we gathered all possible infor- mation 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 (ilnglish, wild rice). I entered their river (Menomonie) to visit them, as we have preached 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 difiicult parts are known ; that it was full of frightful 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 ingulfs all who dare approach ; 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 f ! r v OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. 11} 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 j that I made light of their pretended demon ; that we would defend ourselves well enough against the 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 tl.e 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 before 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; sind on the 2Sth of October, 1674, he set out to establish his long-projected Illinois Mission. His former malady — dysentery — however, re- turned, and he was compelled, with his two companions, to winter on the Chicago River. In the Spring of 1675 ^^ was able to complete his journey, and begin his mission ; but a re- newed and more vigorous attack of disease soon satisfied him that his labors ort earth were 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 permit him to accomplish •'■ 11 1\ JESUIT HISTORY. '7 the journey. As he coasted along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, his strength gradually fiiiled, and he was at last so weak that he could no longer help himself, 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, however, 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 of his companions, and 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 approaching, 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 com- mitted it to the earth, raising a large cross to mark his last resting-place. This occurred on the i8th day of May, 1675, '" the thirty-eighth year of his age. Two years later, and almost on the anniversary of this event, a party of Indians whom Marquette had himself instructed at Lapointe, visited his grave, on their return from their Winter hunting-grounds, and resolved to disinter their good father, and bear his revered bones to the Mission of St. Ignatius, at Mack inac, where they resided. They therefore opened the grave, ! t8 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. and, according to custom, dissected the body, washing the bones and drying them in the sun. When this was done, a neat box of birch bark was prepared, into which the bones 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 the Mackinac, the missionaries, accompanied by many of the In- dians of the place, went to meet them, and there, upon the waters, rose " De Profundis," 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 Mar- quette accomplish, in death, the voyage which life had not en- abled him to terminate. In the life of this humble and unpretending missionary and explorer, there is much to admire. Though an heir to wealth and position in his native land, he voluntarily separated him- self 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 efforts 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. With Marquette, religion was the controlling 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 hill-side and in many ! 1^ 'V\]' TESUIT HISTORY. >9 a shady 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 to 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 Cr.tholic, yet he is not the exclusive prop- erty of that people : he belongs alike to all. His name is written in the hearts of the good of every class. As an explorer, he will live in the annals of the American people forever. " He died young, but there are silvered lieads 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 be told in few words. Marquette was succeeded by Father Pierson, who, in 1674, 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 following year, the mission was again consolidated, and Father Enjalran appointed missionary. This father continued at the mission for several years, but after him we know little of its history. In 1706, the missionaries, becoming disheartened, burned down their college and chapel, and returned to Quebec >\ X-: . • •'li; ao OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. CHAPTER II. FRENCH HISTORY. ,( ...I i III I PRIOR to 1679, little had been done toward exploring and colonizing the great North-west, save by the humble dis- ciples of Ignatius Loyola ; but at that date commercial enterprise entered the field, and the missionary spirit took a subordinate place in the onward march of civilization. When Joliet returned from his voyage down the Mississippi, the young, energetic and adventurous Roljert Cavalier de la Salle, then Lord of Fort Frontenac, had already planned an ex- pedition across the Great Lakes to tlie shores of the Pacific, hoping thereby to find a short passage to China. The news of the brilliant discoveries made by Marquette and Joliet k.ndled the sanguinary mind of this young enthusiast, and induced him to redouble his exertions to carry out his design. With plans for the colonization of the South-west, 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 project. He aimed at the ex- tension of French power by the construction of a chain of forti- fications at the most prominent points along the lakes and rivers of the West. Frontenac entered 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 commission for perfecting the discovery of the " Great River," dated May 12, 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 Oltawas and other tribes of the lakes, who were accustomed to carry iheir furs to FRENCH HISTORY. ^?*,' Montreal. On his return to Quebec, he found Father Louis Hennepin, a friar of tlie 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, etc., 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 pf 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, a'^d the little vessel ventured out upon Lake Erie. In all, there were thirty-four men on board, mostly fur-traders for the valley of the Mississippi. Among them was 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 her course over these un- known waters, where sail had never been seen before, and then turned to the northward, " between the verdant 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. Hen- nepin wondered that nature, without the help of art, could have V 22 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. iif ^ i!!i 1 made so charming a prospect. Herds of deer and flocks of swan and wild turkeys were plentiful. The bears and other beasts anci birds, whose names were unknown, were, in the language of the missionary, "extraordinary relishing." This was twenty years before the settlement of Detroit. Passing on up the river, 'hey entered the lake, which they namcri St. Clair, from the day on which they traversed its sin! low waters; and, at length. Lake Huron lay before them, !'ke u • a i; sea sparkling in the sun. Here again they chailed ■' it Deum, as a thank-offering to the Almighty for the prospcruj/ ihat had attended them. The gentle breezes which now swelled the canvas of the Griffin seemed to whisper of a quick and prosperous voyage to the head-waters of the Huron ; but soon the wind died away to a calm, then freshened to a gale, then rose to a furious tempest. 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 com- mander " 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 chapel should be built in his honor if he would but save them from their jeopardy. But the obedient winds were tame'^ by ?. greater than St. Anthony, and the u iffin "plunged on he; v' itirough foT^ing s'Tgi,s that still grew calmer as she r ^v n. c..' tVoody Bois filancsoon 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 Mackinac. St. Ignace, the scene of Marquette's missionary labors, and the site of that chapel beneath v/b'ch repose his peaceful ashes, is before them, and Pequodenong, wliere as yet the smoke of the calumet of peace has always FRENCH HISTORY. 23 ascended, and the shrill war-whoop has never been heard, rises gradually and majestically frnm the crystal witers which cover, but can not conceal, the pebbly dipth beneath, ft was a grand and imposing scene that lay spread out before them. The following is from Hennepin : " 'I'he 27th, in the morning, we continued our course north-wt'st, with a south-east wind, which carried us the same day to Michilimackinac, wherf we anchored in a bay at six fathom water, upon a shiny white boli. 'in. That bay is sheltered by the coast and a bank lying from o south west to the north ; but it lies exposed to the soith win* , which are very violent in that country. *' Michilimackinac is a neck of land to the north of the mouth of the strait through whici the I^ake of the Illinois dis charges itself into the Lake Huron. That canal is about three leagues long and one broad. . . . "We lay between two dlHerent nations of savages. Those who inhabit the Point of Michilimackinac are called Hurons ; and the others, who are about three or four leagues more north- ward, are Ottawas. Those savages were equally surprised to see a ship in their country ; and the noise of our cannon, of which we made a general discharge, filled them with great astonishment. We went to see the ( >ttawas, and celebrated mass in their habitation. M. La Salle was finely dressed, hav- ing 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, xfter their own way; and some of them came on board with js, to see our ship, which rode all that while in the bay or crt ek I have spoken of. It was a diverting prospect to see, every lay, above six score canoes about it, and savages staring, and admiring that fine wooden canoe, as they called it. They brought us abundance of whitings, and some trouts of fifty or sixty pound weight. " We went the next day to pay a visit U the Hurons, who inhabit a rising ground on a neck of land ov--r against Michili- mackinac. Their villages are fortified with palisades of twenty- five feet high, and always situated upon eminences or hills. \ 24 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. r I Pi 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 look such a jealousy to our ship that, as we understood since, they endeavored to make our expe- dition odious to ail the nations about them. "The Hurons and Ottawas are in confederacy together against the Iroquois, their common enemy. They sow Indian corn, which is theii ordinary food ; for they have nothing else to live upon, except some tish they take in the lakes. They boil it with their sagamittee, which is a kind of broth made with water and the Hour of the corn, which they beat in a mortar made of the trunk of a tree, which ihey 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 Griffin 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 tiie 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 l^ake 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 returned 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 size suit- able for the purpose, he descended the Mississippi to the Gulf. Having completed the exploration of the Gre.it River, his next step was to plant colonies along its banks ; for which pur- pose he labored, but with only partial success, until 1687, when he was assassinated by one of his own men. FRENCH HISTORY. as Some modern writers have stated that the first fort at Mackinac, which at that time meant little more tnan a trading- house surrounded by a stockade, was built by La Salle in 1679 ; but the fact that Hennepin makes no mention of this, j^nd that La Salle was prohibited from trading with the Indians of tiiis region, would seem to be sufficient proof to the contrary. Be- sides, if we may take the testimony of Holmes's " American Annals," this fort or trading-post was first established in 1673. Of the early history of this post, subsequent to the date of La Salle's visit, we have only such information as may be gathered from the notices of travelers and others whose writings have come down to us. In 1688, the Baron La Hontan, an officer of rare accom- plishments, visited this post, and from him we have the following : "At last, finding that my provisions were almost out, I resolved to go to Michilimackinac, to buy up corn from the Hurons and Ottawas. . . . I arrived at this place on the 18th 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 with almost as much as I have occasion for. Mr. Cavalier arrived here, May 6th, being accompanied with his nephew, Father Anastasc the Recollect, a pilot, one of the savages, and some few Frenchmen, which made a sort of a party-colored retinue. These Frenchmen were som" of those that Mr. de la Salle had conducted upon the discovery of the Mississippi. They gave out that they are sent to Canada, in order to gj 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 gave, can not be less than eight hundred leagues. " Michilimackinac, the place I am now in, is certainly a piace of great importance. It lies in the latitude of forty-five degrees and thirty minutes. It is not above half a league dis- i ! f I ! I V 36 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. tant from the Illlnese Lake,* an account of which, and, indeed, of all the other lakes, you may expect elsewhere. Here the 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 off. This precaution they were prompted to by the murder of a certain Huron, called San- daouires, who was assassinated in the Saginaw River by four young Ottawas. In this place the Jesuits have a little house or college, adjoining to a sort of a church, and inclosed with poles that separate it from the village of the Huron?, ''hese good fathers lavish away all their divinity and paticiic;, to no pur- pose, in converting such ignorant infidels • for all the length they can bring them to, is, that oftentimes tliey will desire bap- tism for their dying children, and some few superannuated persons consent to receive the sacrament of baptism when they find themselves at the point of death. The Coureurs de Bois have but a very small settlement here ; though at the same time it is not inconsiderable, as being the staple of all the goods that they truck with the south and the west savages ; for they can not avoid passing this way, when they go to the seats of the Illinese and the Oumamis, or to the Bay dcs Puans, and to the river of Mississippi. The skins, which they impoit from these different places, must lie here some time before they are transported to the colony. Michilimackinac is situated very advantageously; for the Iroquese d.ire not venture, with their sorry canoes, to cross the strait of the Illinese Lake, which is two leagues over j besides that the Lake of the Hurons is too rough for such slender boats ; and as they can not come to it by water, so they can not 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 Illinese Lake lies still in their way." We are also indebted to La Hon tan for a map showing the ■ ■t- ■ FRENCH HISTORY. H location of the Jesuit establisiiment, and also of the French and Indian villages as they existed in 1688. In 1695, M- <^^ ''^ Motte Cadillac, aftenvard 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 hundred men, the best formed and most athletic to be found in this New World ; besides many other persons who are residents 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 inhal)itants. "The villages of tiie savages, in which there are six or seven thousand souls, are about a pistol-shot distant from ours. All the lands are cleared for about three leiigucs around their villnge, and perfectly well cultivated. They produce a sufficient quan- tity of Indian corn for the use of both the French and savage inhabitants." In 1699, Cadillac, perceiving the importance of a fort on the Detroit, repaired to France to present the subject to the consid- eration of Count Ponlcliartrain, the Colonial Minister. He was favorably received, and authorized to establish the proposed fort at the earliest date possible. This he accomplished in 1701. With the exception of here and there a Jesuit missionary and a few half-savage coutcurs de Iwis, the region around Mackinac 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 latter urging the French Government to re- establish M.ickinac. The Jesuits did all in their power to prevent the Indians removing to Detroit, while Cadillac held out every inducement to prevail upon ihem to desert their villages and settle in the vicinity of the new fort, and so far succeeded that, in \ 98 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. il II ^1". 1706, as we have seen, the Jesuits became discouraged, burned down their college and chapel, and returned to Quebec. 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 Detioit, 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 comniander, with a few soldiers, to re-establish the fort, but did not succeed until 1 7 14, 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 Mackinac, 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 es- pecially 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 savag'i nations. The fort is preserved and the house of the missionaries, who are not much employed at present, 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. I have been assured that since the settlement of Detroit and the dispersion 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. de la Motte could by no means fore- see this inconvenience, since we were then in possession of Hud- son's Bay. "The situation of Michilimackinac is very advantageous for trade. This post is between three great lakes : Lake Michigan, which is three hundred leagues in compass, without mentioning FRENCH HISTORY. 29 the great bay that comes into it ; Lake Huron, which is three hundred and fifty leagues in circumference, and which is trian- gular ; and the Upper Lake, which is five hundred 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 Mackinac arc 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 re- moval to that point has not been given by an\' author at the writer's command. Hennepin, La Hontan, and Cadillac, whom we have already quoted, describe it as on the north side, while Charlevoix says nothing bearing upon the question. Sheldon, in his " History of Early Michigan," suggests that the removal probably took place in 17 14, when the post was re-established. A brief notice 01' the war which ended with a transfer of Quebec with all its dependencies, not the least among which was Mackinac, will close the chapter. Fr.'iice and England being rivals in the Old World, could not be partners of the New. Had these two powers been satii>fied to divide the American Continent amicably between them, the history of Columbia would have been far different 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 whicii were constantly arising. Each desired un- divided dominion over the North and West, and at times the struggle for supremacy was desperate. The Indians around the lakes were, almost without exception, friendly to the French, while the " Five Nations," dwelling south and east from Lake Ontario, sided with the English. As early as 1686, English adventurers, in quest of the rich furs of the North-west, pushed up the lakes of Mackinac ; but the French, unwilling that any portion of the Indian trade should pass into the hands of their enemies, 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 unfor- V OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. ited me to witness the sport, adding that the commandant was to be there, and would be on the side of the Chippewas. In consequence of this information, I went to the command- ant, and expo.stulated with him a litde, representing that the Indians might possibly have some sinister end in view ; but the commandant only smiled at my suspicions." The game of baggatiway, which the Indians phiyef' upon Mhw ri ■ ! m 6o OLD AND NEW MACKINAC, that memorable occasion, was the most exciting sport 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. A.*^ 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 were not allowed to touch the ball wi' h the hand, but caught it in this network at the end of the bat. At either end of the ground a tall lost 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 ari carry the ball to that of the adversary. At the beginning of the game the main body of the 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 struggle ensues to secure it as it descends. He who succeeds starts for the goal of the adver saiy holding it high above his head. The opposite party, with merry yells, are swift to pursue. His course is intercepted, and rather than see the ball taken from him, he throws it, as the boy throws a stone from a sling, as far toward the goal of the adversary as he can. An adversary 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 (ar to the left ; now near to •:he 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 than 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 hun- dred Indians sometimes engage in a single game, while it may be played by fifty. In the heat of the contest, when all are running *., MASSACRE AT FORT MACKINAC. 6l at their greatest speed, if one stumbles and fiiUs, fifty or a hun- dred, who are in close pursuit and unable to stop, pile over him forming a mound of human bodies ; and frequently players are 30 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 officers and men, and thus permit the Indians to take possession of the fort. To make their success more certain, they prevailed 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 murder- ous weapons, were placed inside the inclosure. 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 defense. And even when the bail, 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 strugj^ling, all shouting, in the unrestrained pursuit of a rude, athletic exercise, no alarm was felt until the shrill war-whoop told the startled garrison that the slaughter had actually begun. Heniy continues : " I did not go myself to see the match 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 s^"^"M 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 minutes. Mr. Tracy had not gone more than twenty paces from my door, when I heard an Indian war-cry, and a noise of general con- fusion. Going instantly to my window, I saw a crowd of In- dians, within the fort, furiously cutting down and scalping every Englishman they found. In particular I witnessed the fate of Lieutenant Jemette. " I had, in the room in which I was, a fowling-piece, loaded V* ■V; , > . 1 ]■:' 68 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. with swan-shot. This I immediately 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 fiill, and more than one struggling between the knees of an Indian, who, hold- ing him in this manner, scalped him while yet living. " At length, disappointed in the hope of .seeing resistance made to the enemy, and sensible, of oourse, that no effort of my own unassisted arm could avail against four hundred Indians, I thought okily of seeking shelter. Amid the slaughter which was' raging, I observed mony of the Canadian inhabitants of the fort calmly looking on, neither opposing the Indians nor suffering injury ; and, from this circumstance, I conceived a hope of finding security in their houses. "Between the yard-door of my own house and of M. Lang- lade, 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 M. Langlade, begging that he would put me into some place of safety until the heat of the affair should be over, an act of charity by which he might per- haps preserve me from the general massacre ; but, while I uttered my petition, M. Langlade, who had looked for a moment at me, turned again to the window, shrugging his shoulders, and inti- mating that he could do nothing for me : ' Que voudriez — vous que fen ferais 1 ' " This was a moment for despair ; but, the next, a Pani wo- man, a slave of M. 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, hav- ing 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 with- out. Through an aperture, which afforded me a view of the ^<^. of the fort, I beheld, in shapes the foulest and most terrible, '/'.".■.,. MASSACRE AT FORT MACKINAC. 63 the ferocious triumphs of barbarian conquerors. The dead were scalped and mangled ; the dying were writhing and shrieking, under the unsatiated knife and tomahawk ; and, from the bodies of some, ripped open, their butchers were drinking the blood, scooped up in the hollow of joined hands, and quaffed amid shouts of rage and victory. I was shaken, not only with horror, but with fear. The sufferings which I witnessed, I seemed on the point of experiencing. No long time elapsed before, every one being destroyed who could be found, there was a general cry of 'All is finished!' At the same instant I heard some of the Indians enter the house in wh:',h I was. The garret was separated from the room below only by a layer of single boards, at once the flooring of the one and the ceiling of the other. I couid therefore hear every thing that passed ; and the Indians no sooner came in than they inquired whether or not any Englishmen were in the house. M. Langlade replied, that 'he could not say;' he 'did not know of ?ny, ' — answers in which he did not exceed the truth ; for the Puni woman had not only hidden me by steai'h, but kept my secret, and her own. M. Langlade was therefore, os I presume, as far from a wish to destroy me as he was careless about saving me, when he added to these answers, that ' they might examine for themselves, and would soon be satisfied as to the object of their question.' Saying this, he brougiit them to the garret door, "The state of my mind will be imagined. Arrived at the door, some delay was occasioned by the absence of the key, and a few moments were thus allowed me in which to look around me for a hiding place. In one corner of the garret was a heap of those vessels of birch bark used in maple-sugar making, as I have recently described. " The door was unlocked, and opening, and the Indians as- cending the stairs, before I had completely crept into a small opening which presented itself 'y naked, except about the middle. One of them, named, Wenniway, whom I had previously known, and who was upward of six feet in height, had his entire face and body covered with charcoal and grease, only that a white spot of two inches in diameter encircli^d either eye. This man, walking up to me, seized me with one hand by the collar of the coat, while in the other he held a large carving-knife, as if to plunge it into my breast ; his eyes, meanwhile, were fixed steadfastly on mine. At length, after some seconds of the most anxious sus- pense, he dropped his arm, saying, * I won't kill you I' To this he added, that he had been frequently engaged in wars against the English, and had brought away many scalps ; that, |t Ml ?.-! 19 1; j '4 m I I 66 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. on a certain occasion, he had lost a brother whose name was Musinigon, and that I should be called after him. " A reprieve, upon any terms, placed me among the living, and gave me back the sustaining voice of hope ; but Wenniway ordered me down-stairs, and there informing me that I was to be taken to his cabin, where, and indeed every-where else, the Indians were all mad with liquor, death again was threatened, and not as possible only, but as certain. I mentioned my fears on this subject to M. Langlade, begging him to represent the danger to my mas- ter. M. Langlade, in this instance, did not withhold his compas- sion, and Wenniway immediately consented that I should remain where I was, until he found another opportunity to take me away. " Thus far secure, I reascended my garret stairs, in order to place myself the farthest possible out of the reach of insult from drunken Indians ; but I had not remained there more than an hour, when I was called to the room below, in which was an Indian, who said that I must go with him out of the fort, Wenniway having sent him to fetch me. This man, as well as Wenniway himself, I had seen before. In the preceding year I had allowed him to take goods on credit, for which he was still in my debt ; and, some short time previous to the surprise of the fort, he had said, upon my upbraiding him with want of hon- esty, that ' he would pay me before long 1' This speech now came fresh into my memory, and led me to suspect that the fellow had formed a design against my life. I communicated the suspicion to M. Langlade ; but he gave for answer, that I was not my own master, and must do as I was ordered. " The Indian, on his part, directed that before I left the house I should undress myself, declaring that my coat and shirt would become him better than they did me. His pleasure, in this respect, being complied with, no other alternative was left me than either to go out naked, or to put on the clothes of the Indian, which he freely gave me in exchange. His motive for thus stripping me of my own apparel, was no other, as I after- ward learned, than this, that it might not be stained with blood when he should kill me. MASSACRE AT FORT MACKINAC. 67 " I was now told to proceed ; and my driver followed me close until I had passed the gate of the fort, when I turned toward the spot where I knew the Indians to be encamped. This, how- ever, did not suit the purpose of my enemy, who seize^ me by the arm, and drew me violently in the opposite direction, to the distance of fifty yards above the fort. Here, finding that I was approaching the bushes and sand-hills, I determined to proceed no farther ; but told the Indian that I believed he meant to mur- der me, and that if so, he might as well strike where I was as at any greater distance. He replied, with coolness, that my suspi- cions were just, and that he meant to pay me in this manner for my goods. At the same time he produced a knif'^, and held me in a position to receive the intended blow. Both this, and that which followed, were necessarily the affair of p moment. By some effort, too sudden and too little dependent on thought to be explained or remembered, I was enabled to arrest his arm and give him a sudden push, by which I turned him from me, and released myself from his grasp. This was no sooner done, than I ran toward the fort with all the swiftness in my power, the Indian following me, and I expecting every moment to feel his knife. I succeeded in my flight, and, on entering the fort, I saw Wenniway standing in the midst of the area, and to htm I hastened for protection. Wenniway desired the Indian to desist ; but the latter pursued me around him, making several strokes at me with his knife, and foaming at the mouth, wilh rage at the repeated failure of his purpose. At length Wenniway drew near to M. Langlade's house, and, the door being open, I ran into it. The Indian followed me ; but on my entering the house, he vol- untarily abandoned the pursuit. "Preserved so often and so unexpectedly, as it had now been my lot to be, I returned to my garret with a strong incli- nation to believe that, through the will of an overruling power, no Indian enemy could do me hurt ; but new trials, as I believed, were at hand, when, at ten o'clock in the evening, I was aroused from steep and once more desired to descend the stairs. Not less, however, to my satisfaction than surprise, I was sumrooaeQ i ill Id ? iRi-li 68 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. only to meet Major Ethrington, Mr. Bostwick, and Lieutenant Lesslie, who were in the room below. These gentlemen had been taken prisoners, while looking at the game without the fort, and immediately stripped of all their clothes. They were now sent into the fort, under the charge of Canadians, because, the Indians having resolved on getting drunk, the chiefs were appre- hensive that they would be murdered, if they continued in the camp. Lieutenant Jemette and seventy soldiers had been killed ; and but twenty Englishmen, including soldiers, were still alive. These were all within the fort, together with nearly three hun- dred Canadians, belonging to the canoes, etc. "These being our numbers, myself and others proposed to Major Etherington to make an effort for regaining possession of the fort, and maintaining it against the Indians. The Jesuit missionary was consulted on the project ; but he discouraged us by his representations, not only of the merciless treatment which we must expect from the Indians, should they regain their superiority, but of the little dependence which was to be placed upon our Canadian auxii!;':i<:s. Thus the fort and pris- oners remained in the hands of the Indians, though, through the whole night, the prisoners and whites were in actual posses- sion, and they were without the gates. "That whole night, or the greater part of it, was passed in mutual condolence ; and my fellow-prisoners shared my garret. In the morning, being again called down, I found my master, Wenniway, and was desired to follow him. He led me to a small house within the fort, where, in a narrow room, and almost dark, I found Mr. Ezekiel Solomons, an Englishman from Detroit, and a soldier, all prisoners. With these, I re- mained in painful suspense as to the scene that was next to present itself, till ten o'clock in the forenoon, when an Indian arrived, and presently marched us to the lake-side, where a canoe appeared ready for departure, and in which we found that we were to embark. "Our voyage, full of doubt as it was, would have coiiK menced immediately, but that one of the Indians, who was to ] MASSACRE AT FORT MACKINAC. «s ■ be of the party, was absent. His arrival was to be waited for, and this occasioned a very long delay, during which we were exposed to a keen north-east wind. An old shirt was all that covered me. I suffered much from the cold, and in this extrem- ity, M. Langlade coming down to the beach, I asked him for a bbnket, promising, if I lived, to pay him for it at any price he pleased ; but the answer I received was this, that he could let me have no blanket, unless there were some one to be security for the payment. For myself, he observed, I had no longer any property in that country. I had no more to say to M. Langlade ; but, present! seeing another Canadian, named John Cuchoise, I addressed him a similar request, and was not refused. Naked as I was, and rigorous as was the weather, but for the blanket I must have perished. At noon our party was all collected, the prisoners all embarked, and we steered for the Isles du Castor, in Lake Michigan. "The soldier who was our companion in misfortune was made fast to a bar of the canoe, by a rope tied around his neck, as is the manner of the Indians in transporting their prisoners. The rest were left unconnned; but a paddle was put into each of our hands, and we were made to use it. The Indians in the canoe were seven in number ; the prisoners fjur. I had left, as it will be recollected, Major Etheringtfi., Lieuten- ant Lesslie, and Mr. Bostwick, at M. Langlade's, cud w;;s now joined in misery with Mr. Ezekiel Solomons, the soldier, and the Englishman, who had newly arrived from Detroit. This was on the sixth day of June. The fort was taken on the fourth ; I surrendered myself to Wenniway on the fifth ; and this was the third day of our distress. "We were bound, as I have said, for the Isles du Castor, which lie in the mouth of Lake Michigan ; and we should have crossed the lake but that n thick fog came on, on account of which the Indians deemed it safer to keep the shore close under their lee. We therefore approached the lands of the Ottawas, and their village of L'Arbre Croche, already mentioned as Ivinc about twenty milcH to the westward of Michiiimackinac, i H': If .-.'&■■■ m n 1 .1 1 ' U n 70 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. on the opposite side of the tongue of land on which the fort is built. "Every half-hour the Indians gave their war-whoops, one for every prisoner in their canoe. This is a general custom, by the aid of which all the Indians within hearing are apprised of the number of prisoners they are carrying. In this manner we reached Wagoshense (Fox Point), a long point, stretching westward intc the lake, and which the Ottawas make a carry- ing-place, to avoid going round it. It is distant eighteen miles from Michilimackinac. After the Indians had made their war- whoop, as before, an Ottawa appeared upon the beach, who made signs that we should land. In consequence, we ap- proached. The Ottawa asked the news, and kept the Chippe- was in further conversation, till we were within a few yards of the land, and in shallow water. At this moment, a hundred men rushed upon us from among the bushes, and dragged all the prisoners out of the canoes, amid a terrifying shout. "We now believed that our last sufferings were approach- ing J but no sooner were we fairly on shore, and on our legs, than the chiefs of the party advanced and gave each of us their hands, telling us that they were our friends, and Ottawas whom the Chippewas had insulted by destroying the English without consulting with them on the affair. They added that what they had done was for the purpose of saving our lives, the Chippe- was having been carrying us to the Isles du Castor only to kill and devour up. "The reader's imagination is here distracted by the variety of our fortunes, and he may 'well paint to himself the state of mind of those who sustained them ; who were the sport, or the victims, of a series of events more like dreams than realities — more like fiction than truth I It was not long before we were embarked again, in the canoes of the Ottawas, who, the same evening, re-landed us at Michilimackinac, where they marched us into the fort, in view of the C'hippewas, confounded at beholding the Ottawas espouse a tide opposite to their own. The Ottawas, who had accompanied us in sufficient nun)bers, -1 F-Pll li, MASSACRE AT FORT MACKINAC. n t'fi took possession of the, fort. We, who had changed masters, but were still prisoners, were lodged in the house of the com- mandant, and strictly guarded. "Early the next morning, a General Council was held, in which the Chippewas complained much of the conduct of the Olawas, in robbing them of their prisoners j alleging that all the Indians, the Ottawas alone excepted, were at war with the English; that Pontiac had taken Detroit; that the King of France had awoke, and re-possessed himself of Quebec and Montreal, and that the English were meeting destruction, not on'y at Michilimackinac, but in every other part of the world. From all this they inferred that it became the Ottawas to restore the prisoners, and to join in the war ; and the speech was followed by large presents, being part of the plunder of the fort, and which was previously heaped in the center of the room. The Indians rarely make their answers till the day after they have heard the arguments offered. They did not depart from their custom on this occasion; and the Council, therefore, adjourned. "We, the prisoners whose fate was thus in controversy, were unacquainted, at the time, with this transar'^^ion ; and therefore enjoyed a night of tolerable tranquillity, not in the least suspecting the n verse which was preparing for us. Which of the arguments of the Chippewas, or whether or not all were deemed valid by the 'ttawas, I can not say, but the Council was resumed at aa early hour in the morning, and, after several speeches had been made in it, the prisoners were sent for, and returned to the Chippewas. "The Ottawas, who now gave us in'.o the hands of the Chippewas, had them; °lves declared that the latter designed no other than to kill us, ..mJ make broth of .... The Chippewas, as soon as we "'ere restored to them, march. • us to a vi;!;.';ie of their own, situate on the point which is belcw the T-- > ', and put us into a lodge, already the prison of fourteen soloic :>, tied two and two, with each a rope around his neck, and made fast to a pole which might be called the supporter of the building. ? • Hi it} m ' 72 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. Sl!"^l "I ^vas left untied; but I passed a nifih! sleepless, :iud i'nll of wretchedness. My bed was the bare g ouna, an(5 ] was a,e;ain reduced to an old shirt, '-s n>y C' irt apr »i"ei ; 'he b-a-'tet which I li.id receivi d, through the generosity of M. Cuciioise, having btc»n taken from me Kuiong tie Ottawas, when they seized upon snyself :ini"' the oihcis, at Wagoshense, I wis, besides, in want of food, ha'i;ifj for two days eaten no!hin£'. I confess that in the canoe wiui fh« Ch'ppewas, I v'.is offered brr 1. J — but bread, with what a(.\oni];aiiin»enL! '' " -y had a loaf, which they cut with the same knives that tli'y haa employed in the ir.assacre — knives still covertid with blood. The blood they r jistened with spittle, and, rubbing it on the bread, offered this hr food to their prisoners, telling them to eat the blood of their countrymen. " Such was my situation on the juorning of the seventh of June, in the i^ear one thousand sevc;* hundred and sixty-three. But a few hours produced an event which gave still a new color to my lot. Toward noon, when the great war-chief, in company with Wenniway, was seated at the opposite end of the lodge, my friend and brother, Wawatam, suddenly came in. Daring the four days preceding, I had often wondered wJiat had become of him. In passing by, he gave me his hand, but went immediately toward the ^reat chief, by the side of whom and Wenniway he sat himself down. The most uninterrupted silence prevailed ; each smoked his pipe ; and, this done, Wawatam arose and left the lodge, saying to me, as he passed, 'Ta.. j c.urage.' "An hour elapsed, during which several chiefs ente-ed, and preparations appeared to be making for a council. At length, Wawatam re-entered the lodge, followed by his wife, and both loaded with merchandise, which they carried up to the chiefs, and laid in a heap befor . them. Some moments of silence followed, at the end which Wawatam pro- nounced a speech, every word of r to me, was of extraor- dir ary interest. ' Friends and relations,' ' ' ^an, ' what is it tha,t I shfli t»ayr You know what I ..i. You all have friends and I MASSACRE AT FOKT MACKINAC. 73 brothers and children whom as yourselves you love ; and you — what would you experience, did you, like me, behold your dearest friend, your brother, iu the condition of a slave ; a slave, exposed every moment to insult and to menaces of death ? This case, as you all know, is mine. See there [point- ing to myself], my friend and brother among slaves — himself a slave ! " ' You all well know that, long before the war began, I adopted him as my brother. From that moment, he became one of my family, so that no change of circumstances could break the cord whicii fastened us together. He is my brother ; and because i am your relation, he is therefore your relation too. And how, being your relation, can he be your slave ? " ' On the day on which the war began, you were fearful lest, on this very account, I should reveal your secret. You re- quested, therefore, that 1 would leave the fort, and even cross the lake. 1 did so ; but I did it witli reluctance. 1 did it with reluctance, notwithstanding that you, Menehwehna (Minava- vana), who had the command in this enterprise, gave me your promise that you would protect my friend, delivering him from all danger, and giving him safely to me. The performance of this promise I now claim. I come not with empty hands to ask it. You, Menehwehna, best know whether or not, as it respects yourself, you have kept your word ; but I bring these goods to buy off every claim which any man among you all may have on my brother, as his prisoner.' "Wawatam having ceased, the pipes were again filled; and, after they were linished, a further period of silence fol- lowed. At the end of this, Menehwehna arose, and gave his reply : ' ' My relation and brother,' said he, ' what you have spoken is the truth. We were acquainted vith the friendship which sub- sisted b*' ween yourself ^pd the Englishman, in whose behalf you have now addressed us. v»e knew the danger of having our secret discovered, and the consequences which must follow; and vou sav truly, that we requeslcd you to leave the fort. This we •,i ''k '* 74 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. did out of regard for you and your family ; for, if a discovery of our design had been made, you would have been blamed, whether guilty or not ; and you would thus have been involved in difficulties from which you could not have extricated yourself. " ' It is also true that I promised you to take care of your friend ; and this promise I performed by desiring my Fon, at the moment of assault, to seek him out and bring him to my lodge. He went accordingly, but could not find him. The day after I sent him to Langlade's, when he was informed that your friend was safe ; and had it not been 'hat the Indians were then drink- ing the rum which had been found in the fort, he would have brought him home with him, according to my orders, I am very glad to find that your friend has escaped. We accept \our present ; ind you may take him home with you.' " Wawatam thanked the assembled chiefs, and, taking me by the hrind, led me to his lodge, which was 'at the distance of a few yards only from the prison-lodge. My entrance appeared to give joy to the whole family ; food was immediately prepared for me, and I now ate the first hearty meal which I had made since my Capture. I found myself one of the family; and but that I had still my fears as to the other Indians, I felt as happy as the situation could allow. " In the course of the next niorning, I was alarmed by a noise in the prison-lodge ; and, looking through the openings of the lodge in which I was, I saw seven dead bodies of white men dragged forth. Upon my inquiry into th-- occasion, I was in- formed that a certain chief, called by the Canadians Le Grand Sable, had not long before arrived from his Winter's hunt ; and that he, having been absent when the war began, and being now desirous of manifesting to the Indians at large his hearty concur- rence in What they had done, had gone into the prison-lodge, and there, with his knife, put the seven men, whose bodies I had seen, to death. " Shortly after, two of the Indians took one of the dead bodies, which they chose as being the faftest, cut off the he. i, W 'pi MASSACRE AT FORT MACKINAC. 75 I and divided the whole into five parts, one of which was put into each of five kettles, hung over as many fires, kindled for this purpose at the door of the prison-lodge. Soon after things were so far prepared, a message came to our lodge, with an invitation to Wawatam to assist at tiie feast. " An invitation to a feast is given by him who is the master of it. Small cuttings of cedar-wood, of about four inches in length, supply the place of cards ; and the bearer, by word of mouth, states the particulars. Wawatam obeyed the summons, taking with him, as is usual, to the place of entertainment, his dish and spoon. After an absence of about half an hour, he returned, bringing in his dish a human hand, and a large piece of flesh. He did not appear to relish the repast, but told me that it was then, and always had been, the custom among all the Indian nations, when returning from war, or on overcoming their enemies, to make a war-feast from among the slain. This, he said, inspired the warrior with courage tt attack, and bred him to meet death with fearlessness. "In the evening of the same day, a la.y.e canoe, such as those which come from Montreal, was seen advancing to the fort. It was full of men, and I distinguished several passengers. The Indian cry was made in the village, a general muster ordered, and, to the number of *wo hundred, they marched up to the' fort, where the canoe was expected to land. The canoe, suspecting nothing, came boldly to the fort, where the passengers, as being English traders, were seized, dragged through the water, beaten, reviled, marched to the prison-lodge, ;i: .' i— -e stripped of their clothes, and confined. "Of the English traders that fell into the hands of the In- dians, at the capture of the fort, Mr. Tracy was the only one who lost his life. Mr. Ez=?kiel Solomons and Mr. Henry Bost- wick were taken by the Ottawas, and, after the peace, carried down to Montreal, and there ransomed. Of ninety troops, about seventy were killed ; the rest, together with those of the posts in the Bay des Puants, and at the river Saint Joseph, were also kept in safety by the Ottawas. till th« peace, and then either I !- I' I 11 'I iii, 1^ OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. ii^^,j )\ vtored, or ransomed at Montreal. The Ottawas never oveiuaiue their disgust at the neglect with which they had been treated, in the beginning of the war, by those who afterward desired their assistance as allies." I'li ESCAPE OF HENRY AND OTHERS. 17 CHAPTER V. ESCAPE OF HENRY AND OTHERS. THE peculiarities of the Indian character will readily explain to us the part which the Ottawas played in this transac- tion. They deemed it gross insult that the Ojibwas had under- taken an enterprise of such vast importance without consulting them or asking their assistance. They had, therefore, rescued Henry and his companions in tribulation from the hands of their captors, and borne them back to the fort, where they had, to the dismay of the Ojibwas, taken possession not only of the fort, but of the other prisoners also. This, however, was purely out of revenge to the Ojibwas, and not from any good-will toward the prisoners. After the Council of which Henry has told us, some of the prisoners, among whom was Henry, were given up ; but the officers and several of the soldiers were re- tained, and carried by the Ottawas to L'Arbre Croche. Here, owing probably to the influence of Father Janois, they were treated with kindness. From this point Ethrington dispatched two letters, one by Janois to Major Gladwyn, at Detroit, and the other by an Ottawa Indian to Lieuien.int Gorell, at Green Bay. Both of these letters contained a brief account of the massacre, and an earnest entreaty for assistance. The one addressed to Gorell was as follows * "MiCHILt MACKINAC, Junt II, I763. " Dear Sir, — ^This place was taken by surprise on the 4th instant by the Chippewas (Ojibwas), at which time Lieutenant Jamette and twenty men were killed, and all the rest taken pris- oners ; but our good friends the Ottawas have taken Lieutenant ■}■' ■" .y- ■ 1 '.i 11 ill m ;• OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. Lesslie, me, and eleven men out of their hands, and have prom- ised to reinstate us again. You' 11 therefore, on the receipt of this, which I send by a canoe of Ottawas, set out with all your garrison, and what English traders you have with you, and come with the Indian who gives you this, who will conduct you safe to me. You must be sure to follow the instruction you receive from the bearer of this, as you are by no means to come to this post before you see me at the village, twenty miles from this. . . . I must once more beg you' 11 lose no time in coming to join me ; at the same time be very careful, and always be on your guard. I long much to see you, and am, dear sir, "Your most humble servant, Geo. Eihrington. "J. GrORELL, Royal Americans y When Father Janois reached Detroit, he found the place closely besieged, and consequently no assistance could come from that quarter ; but at Green Bay the case was otherwise. With seventeen men, Lieutenant Gorell had taken possession of that post in 1761, and, by a system of good management, had succeeded in allaying the hostility of the savages and securing the friendship of at least a part of the tribes around him. On receiving Ethrington's letter, Gorell told the Indians what the Ojibwas had done, and that he and his soldiers were going to Michilimackinac to restore order, adding that, during his ab- sence, he commended the fort to their care. Presents were dis- tributed among them, and advantage taken of every circum- stance that could possibly be made to favor the English cause ; so that when the party was ready to embark, ninety warriors proposed to escort the garrison on its way. Arriving at L'Arbre Croche, where Captain Ethrington, Lieutenant Lesslie, and eleven men were yet detained as pris- oners, Gorell received an intimation that the Ottawas intended to disarm his own men also ; but he promptly informed them that such an attempt would meet with a vigorous resistance, and the Indians desisted. Several days were now spent in holding councils. The Indians from Green Bay requested the Ottawas ESCAPE OP HENRY AND OTHERS. 79 to set their prisoners at liberty, to which the latter at length assented. Thinking only of how they might escape the pres- ence of their troublesome and treacherous foes, they prepared to depart. One difficulty, however, yet remained. The Ojibwas had declared that they would prevent the English from passing down to Montreal, and again they had recourse to a Council. A reversion of feeling, as we shall soon see, had already taken place among the Ojibwa chiefs ; and at length, though reluctantly, they yielded the point. On the eighteenth day of July, escorted by a fleet of Indian canoes, the English left L'Arbre Croche ; and on the thirteenth diiy of August all arrived in safety at Montreal, leaving not a British soldier in the region of the lakes, except at Detroit. Let us now go back, in point of time, and hear our old friend Henry to the end of his story : " In the morning of the ninth of June, a General Council was held, at which it was agreed to remove to the island of Michili- mackinac, as a more defensible situation in the event of an attack by the English. The Indians had begun to entertain ap- prehensions of a want of strength. No news had reached them from the Potawatomies, in the Bay des Puants, and they were uncertain whether or not the Monomins would join them. They even feared that the Sioux would take the English side. This resolution fixed, they prepared for a speedy retreat. At noon the camp was broken up, and we embarked, taking with us the prisoners that were still undisposed of. On our passage, we en- countered a gale of wind, and there were some appearances of danger. To avert it, a dog, of which the legs were previously tied together, was thrown into the lake — an offering designed to soothe the angry passions of some offended Manitou. " As we approached the island, two women in the canoe in which I was, began to utter melancholy and hideous cries. Pre- carious as my condition still remained, I experienced some sensations oif alarm from these dismal sounds, of which I could not then discover the occasion. Subsequently I learned that it is customary for the women, on passing near the burial- . > m.ll ANII NRW MAL'RINAU. -■ i ;f \V((H mm it \vitiu>Mi luiil by whiilt (ltt>y iiiuititiit (hfili' KitlHyi \\\\\\ llu> WttituMt \vi>|p mil \\\\\^ Itt iitr>illii|{ nu> woto li )i«il ll\UM> huH«h«ttl nOv llolilltid \Wi\ III (III* (oMiAo ttl (lift tliiv, ili<>M> itnivi'il rt ittiiuo nmii hi'iiiili, with «'lull«t NvllO «>ll(l«>i«ViMril («t pll'Vltit nil lIlP lllillitlin (M it>|Mii (hUht^ii (o (1)0 ttMlMitiup III IStiilliii'i lull Ui(«i Wild now (1)0 )iirva(ll)ig |)iii«>«ioti, A (iiiiiil Wiix kopl iliiiliiu llio iluy, ittiil a \vi<(il, («ll llii> |iil>«iiiuii |«ill [w \\\u\\\\ , i)iitl I >0( h>il lliiil, •!>< .«lt I'liulinluiltiii, I nllitulii >tl){Uv lllril litliv "Sov*>irtl iliiVN lit)(l now piiMMMl, wlicii. tiiip htitiiiliiii, rt «'oii \U\\\9\\ lOiuut pivvDlloO, iiiul I ni\\\ Itio liitlliiiin luiiiihiii In n tH«n(\i<(«>il luitnniM dnvrtid (ho lii>t«tti. lit i« mIdhi itiiu* I |iii (llrti two liUjit* noiors {\o\\\ MniUionl Wi'fO ill nielli, "AU (ho Indirtu riuioon woir iiiiiui'«liiiti>lv iiiniitiiitl, mill tho'»r l\oni MontirrtI \vri»' Miiii'uinlod tiitd •*rlMMl iii lliry limii'tl A |hMnt, Itoliiiu) wliith iltr lloiilli) lidil luM'ii ( litu t0!* Wt»H k Iuih«' piopoilloii of lliptoi rt dun I^VI^tliK ;t« tpiUilion, illld otto vvllit II Ihtc^ldood diHliilliioii'i' 11111011^ Iho IndiAii^t, ovon to li\o Icnm o\ (hrii doniosi lilondt, Wiiwtt trtU). idwrtV:* WiUrhliil o\' uiy n;«IoIv, no nooiioi hoiud (ho iiolur of duinkoimosH whioh. in iho o\min^, did not full In ln'nin, lh(tn he lopivsonlod to mo Iho diingoi of lonmiiitni; in the vilhtl^v, :tnd o>vnod thiil ho oonld not hinnolf loitiMl tho Imip lAtion of joinin^i his i't>intitdoK in iho dohaurh. 'I'hiU I inighl escape i»ll misthirf, ho thoroloio rotpiostod timt I woiiUI aoroin- pAnv him \^^ iho nunintttin, whcir I mmh to tom:tin hiddon till the Ittjuor fttiould be driutk. V,c mcco. il I'uc tnouiitiUn itc(H>rti- KMUAIMH HV MtrKfHV ANI* l)IMIUiil(i){, (I111I4 wllhlii, itinl Il|t|tl ii'hiiiiiMJ, *'i\\\ {{mIiim Ii*I" III*' * *)V)'. Ill wlili li llii< tiiiltiiiMi' W1114 iii'iitly IpII t^M't Willi', I liilltlil |l|l< lllllhi'l I'llil III hii tilMlliliil III Ho MI|I4|IM, lll«t> lllitl III Mil IIVI'II, lull tvllll il llllllll'l >t|ltq iiimI ii|i|iii wiiI|i|ii'iI iiivh'II In mv lilioilui >iimI iiIi'jii till ility Ittl'llll, (Ml ilWillilll|l, I It'll IIIV')l'll llll illlllll'illril liy iliilMi' llll|<<< I ll|iiiii wliii h I Illy, itinl, |i'iiiiivlii|f II, liiiiiiil II III lii< .1 ImiIii< 'I'lih I i||l|l|lii')ril III III' lllill III II lliiil, III iiillllli lilIlM iHlllMill, mill wliiil iiiIhIiI M'ly iiiiliiiiilly Im< IiiiiI)|iliili'i|, mill illlilM'tl I'luyiiiK llll- iliy liiiiirii, In llic viiw ol wlili li I irlililicil, Al Irii^Hi llll' miiiiiil nl 11 liml M'ik licil iiir, .iii'l nty tnilhiii liii'iiil ii|i|ii'iii('i|, iiiiikitiK Miiiiiy j|iiiln|',ii-it Im 'Inn |iiii({ iil)|rii((', llir I .iti'ii' III wliii II Wilt nil iiiifiiilninili* cnicnh in llir nijnyilinil nl \\\h liijilMl, " TliiH |ii»iiil lirliin i'ii|iliiiiici|, I iiM'iiiioiicil ili»' rxtninrilitiary hI|(IiI Mi.iI Ii.hI |ii< "iriitcil il'ii'lf in tlir 1 ;iv I') whii II lu' liiiM ('oiiiiiiniilril my 'iliimlinH llr li.ul tirvi't liranl ol iN i'Kii«!i'ti(<; hi'Inri', nml, ii|»mh rxiimiiiinj; llir r;ivr Ioi^i-iIht, wr hiiw rf.twm to licllrvc llial il li.nl Imi'm iiik irrilly lillril willi hiiiriati lioilirn. *'()i) rcSiiiiiiii^ lo III'- tnil^'-, i i-)i|»i lii'iii i!f this cave before. After visiting it, which they immediately did, almost every one offered a different opinion as to its history. Some advanced, that at a period when the waters overflowed the land (an event which makes a distinguished figure in the history of their world), the inhabitants of this island had fled into the cave, and been there drowned ; others, that those same inhabitants, when the Hurons made war upon them (as tradi- tion says they did), hid themselves in the cave, and, being discovered, were there massacred. For myself, I am disposed to believe that this cave was an ancient receptacle of the bones of prisoners sacrificed and devoured at war-feasts. I have always observed that the Indians pay particular attention to the bones of sacrifices, preserving them unbroken, and deposit- ing them in some place kept exclusively for that purpose. "A few days after this occurrence, Menehwehna (Minava- vana), whom I now found to be the great chief of the village of Michilimackinac, came to the lodge of my friend, and when the usual ceremony of smoking was finished, he observed that Indians were now daily arriving from Detroit, some of whom had lost relations or friends in the war, and who would cer- tainly retaliate on any Englishman they found, upon which account his errand was to advise that I should be dressed like an Indian, an expedient whence I might hope to escape all future insult. " I could not but consent to the proposal ; and the chief was so kind as to assist my friend and his family in effecting that very day the desired metamorphosis. My hair was cut off, and my head shaved, with the exception of a spot on the crown of about twice the diameter of a crown-piece. My face wu ESCAPE OP HENRY AND OTHERS. 83 painted with three or four different colors, some parts of it red, and others black. A shirt was provided for me, painted with vermilion mixed with grease. A large collar of wampum was put round my neck, and another suspended on my breast. Both my arms were decorated with large bands of silver above the elbow, besides several smaller ones on the wrists; and my legs were covered with mitasses, a kind of hose, made, as is the favorite fashion, of scarlet cloth. Over all I was to wear a scarlet mantle or blanket, and on my head a large bunch of feathers. I parted, not without some regret, with the long hair which was natural to it, and which I fancied to be ornamental; but the ladies of the family, and of the village in general, ap- peared to think my person improved, and now condescended to call me handsome, even among Indians. " Protected in a great measure by this disguise. I felt myself more at liberty than before ; and the season being arrived in which my clerks from the interior were to be expected, and some part of my property, as I had a right to hope, recovered, I begged the favor of Wawatam that he would enable me to pay a short visit to Michilimackinac. He did not fail to com- ply, and I succeeded in finding my clerks ; but, either through the disturbed s.tate of the country, as they represented to be the case, or through their misconduci, as I had reason to think, I obtained nothing; and nothing, or almost nothing, I now began to think would be all that I should need during the rest of my life. To fish and to hunt, to collect a few skins and exchange them for necessaries, was all that I seemed destined to do and to acr.uire for the future. "I returned to the Indian v'illage, where at this time much scarcity of food prevailed. We were often for twenty-four hours without eating, and when in the morning we had no victuals for tho day before us, the custom was to black our faces with grease and charcoal, and exhibit through resignation a temper as cheerful as if in the midst of plenty. A repetition of the evil, however, soon induced us to leave the island in •earch of food, and accordingly we departed for the Bay of :l i\ .1 r 111 «4 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. Boutchitaony, distant eight leagues, and where we found plenty of wild fowl and fish." Leavinsc the bay just mentioned, Henry, with his friend Wawatam and family, came to St. Martin's Island, where, in the enjoyment of an excellent and plentiful supply of food, they remained until the twenty-sixth of August. "At this time," continues the narrator, " the Autumn being at hand, and a sure prospect of increased security from hostile Indians afforded, Wawatam proposed going to his intended wintering-ground. The removal was a subject of the greatest joy to myself, on ac- count of the frequent insults to which I had still to submit from the Indians of our band or village, and to escape from which I would freely have gone almost anywhere. At our wintering- ground we were to be alone ; for the Indian fam'lies in the countries of which I write separate in the Winter season for the convenience as well of subsistence as of the chase, and reasso- ciate in the Spring and Summer. "In preparation, our first business was to sail for Michili- r.iackinac, where, being arrived, we procured from a Canadian trader, on credit, some trifling articles, together with ammunition and two bushels of maize. This done, we steered directly for Lake Michigan. At L'Arbre Croche we stopped one day, on a visit to the Ottawas, where all the people, and particularly O'ki'no'chu'ma'ki, the chief — the same who took me from the Chippewas — behaved with great civility and kindness. The chief presented me with a bag of maize." From L'Arbre Croche they proceeded directly to the mouth of the river Aux Sables, which, Henry tells us, is "on the southern side of the lake," and as they hunled along their way, Henry enjoyed a personal freedom cf which he had long been de- prived, and became as expert ni the Indian pursuits as the Indians themselves. The Winter was spent in the chase. " By degrees," says Henry, " I became Aimiliarized with this kind of life, and had it not been for the idea of which I could not divest my mind, that I was living among savages, and for the whispers of a lingering hope that I should one day be released ESCAPE OF HENRY AND OTHERS. 85 from it — or if I could have forgotten that I had evei been otherwise than as I then was — I could have enjoyed as much happiness in this as in any other situation." At the approach of Spring, the hunters began their prepara- tions for returning to Micbilimackinac ; but their faces were no sooner turned toward the scene of the massacre than all began to fear an attack from the English. The cause of this fear, Henry tells us, wita the constant dreams of the more aged women to that effect. Henry labored, but in vain, to allay their fears. On the twenty-fifth day of April, the little party that had collected upon the beach embarked. Henry writes : " At La Grande Traverse we met a large party of Indians, who appeared lo labor, like ourselves, under considerable alarm, and who dared prot».ed no further lest they should be destroyed by the English. Frequent councils of the united bands were held, and interrogations were continually put to myself as to whether or not I knew of any design to attack them. I found that they believed it possible for me to have a foreknowledge of events, and to be informed by dreams of all things doMig at a distance. "Protestations of my ignorance were recei\ id with but little satisfaction, and incurred the suspicion of a design to conceal my knowledge. On this account, therefore, or because I saw them tormented with fears which had nothing but imagination to rest upon, I told them at length that I knew there was no enemy to insult them, and that they might proceed to Micbilimackinac without d.iiiger from the English. I further, and with more con- fidence, declared that if ever my countrymen returned to Micbi- limackinac, I would recommend tl" "i to their favor, on account of the good treatment which I had received from them. Thus en- couraged, they embarked at an early hour the next morning. In crossing the bay, we experienced a storm of thunder and lightning, " Our port was the village of L'Arbre Creche, which we reached in safety, and where we staid till the following day. At this village we found several persons who had lately been at Micbilimackinac, and from them we had the satisfaction of \ i 86 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. learning that all was quiet there. The remainder of our voyage was therefore performed with confidence. " In the evening of the twenty-seventh we landed at the fort, which now contained only two French traders. The Indians who had arrived before us were very few in number, and by all who were of our party I was very kindly used. I had the entire freedom both of the fort and camp. " Wawatam and myself settled our stock, and paid our debts ; and, this done, I found that my share of what was left consisted in a hundred beaver-skins, sixty raccoon-skin v, and six otter, of the total value of about one hundred and sixfy dollars. With these earnings of my Winter's toil, I proposed to purchase clothes, of which I was much in need, hav'aig been six months without a shirt J but on inquiring into the prices of goods, I found that ail my funds would not go far. I was able, however, to buy two shirts, at ten pounds of beaver each ; a pair of leggins, or pad- taloons, of scarlet cloth, which, with the ribbon to garnish them fashionably, cost nie fifteen pounds of beaver ; a blanket, at twenty pounds of beaver ; and some other articles at proportionable rates. In this manner my wealth was soon reduced, but not before I had laid in a good stock of am- munition and tobacco. To the use of the latter I had become much attached through the Winter. It was my principal recre- ation, after retiuning from tht chase j for my companions in the lodge were unaccustomed to pass their time in conversation. Among the Indians the topics of conversation are but few, and limited, for the most part, to the transactions of the day, the number of animals which they have killed, and of those which have escaped their pursuit, and other incidents of the chase. Indeed, the causes of taciturnity among the Indians may be easily under^ifood if we consider how many occasions of speech which present themselves to us are utterly unknown to them, — the r.»cords of hi.. lory, the pursuits of science, the disquisitions of philosophy, th-^ systems of politics, the business and the amusements of the day, and the transactions of the four corners of the world. -■H*^ ESCA1>£ OF HENRY AND OTHERS. 87 " Eight days had passed in tranquillity, when there arrived a band of Indians from the Bay of Saguenaum, They had assisted at the siege of Detroit, and came to muster as many re- cruits for that service as they could. For my own part, I was soon informed that, as I was the only Englishman in the place, they proposed to kill me in order to give their friends a mess of English broth, to raise their courage. " This intelligence was not of the most agreeable kind, and, in consequence of receiving it, I requested my friend to carry me to the Sault de Sainte Marie, at which place I knew the Indians to be peaceably inclined, and that M. Cadotte enjoyed a powerful influence over their conduct. They considered M. Cadotte as their chief, and he was not only my friend, but a friend to the English. It was by him that the Chippewas of Lake Superior were prevented from joining Pontiac. " Wawatam was not slow to exert himself for my preserva- tion, but, leaving Michilimackinac in the night, transported myself and all his Ic Jge to Point St. Ignace, on the opposite side of the strait. Here we remained till daylight, and then went into the Bay of Boutchitaony, in which we spent three days in fishing and hunting, and where we found plenty of wild fowl. Leaving the bay we made for the Isle aux Outardes, where we were obliged to put in on account of the wind's coming ahead. We proposed sailing for the Sault the next morning. " But when the morning came Wawatam's wife complained that she was sick, adding that she had had bad dreams, and knew that if we went to the Sault we should all be destroyed. To have argued at this time against the infallibility of dreams would have been extremely iinadvisable, since I should have appeared to be guilty, riot only of an odious want of faith, but also of a still more odious want of sensibility to the possible calamities of a family which had done so much for the allevia- tion of mine. I was silent, but Mie disappointment seemed to seal my fate. No prospect opened to console me. To return to Michilimackinac could only insure my destruction, and to remain at the island was to brave almost equal danger, since it I'! '■ If '4 I A ri I '' m f H :i l!!: i ill V I ;n ■ '1 .1 ril 88 w OLD a;:d new mackinac. lay in the direct route between the fort and the Missisaki, along which the Indians from Detroit were hourly expected to pass on the business of their mission. I doubted not but, taking ad- vantage of the solitary situation of the family, they would carry into execution their d'sign of killing me. " Unable therefore to take any part in the direction of our course, but a prey at the same time to the most anxious thoughts as to my own condition, I passed all the c .j on the highest part to which I could climb of a tall tree, and whence the lake on both sides of the island lay open to my view. Here I might hope to learn at the earliest possible moment the approach of canoes, and by this means be warned in time to conceal myself " On the second morning I returned, as soon as it was light, to my watch-tower, on which I had not been long before I dis- covered a sail, coming from Michilimackinac. The sail was a white one, and much larger than those usually employed by the northern Indians. I therefore indulged a hope that it knight be a Canadian canoe on its voyage to Montreal, and thg.t I might be able to prevail upon the crew to take :ne with theui, and thus release me from all my troubles. " My hopes continued to gain strength j for I soon persuaded myself that the manner in which ihe paddles were used on board the canoe was Canadian, and not Indian. My spirits were elated ; but disappointment had become so usual with me, that I could not suffer myself to look to the event with any strength of confidence. Enough, however, appeared at length to demon- strate itself to induce me to descend the tree and repair to the lodge with my tidings and schemes of liberty. The family con- gratulated me on the approach of so fair an opportunity of es- cape, and my father and brother (for he was alternately each of these) lit his pipe and presented it to me, saying : ' My son, this ma\ l*c tiic last time that ever you and I shall smoke out of the same pipe! I am sorry to part with you. You know tlie affec- tion which I have always borne you, and the dangers to which I have exposed myself and family to preserve you from your ene- mies, and I am happy to find that my efforts promise not to ESCAPE OF HENRY AND OTHERS. 89 have been in vain.' At this time a boy came into the lodge, informing us that the canoe had come from Michilimacli- inac, and was bound to the Sault de Sainte Marie. It was manned by three Canadians, and was carrying liome Madame Cadotte, wife of M. Cadotte, aheady mentioned. "My hopes of going to Montreal being now dissipated, I re- solved on accompanying Madame Cadotte, with her permission, to the Sault. On conununicating my wishes to Madame Cadotte, she cheerfully acceded to them. Madame Cadotte, as I have already mentioned, was an Indian woman of the Chippewa nation, and she was very generally respected. " My departure fixed upon, 1 returned to the lodge, where I packed up my wardrobe, consisting of my two shirts, pair of leggins, and blanket. Besides these, I took a gun and ammu- nition, presenting what remained further to n\\ host. I also returned the silver arm-bands with which the family had decorated me the year before. "We now exchanged farewells, with an emotion entirely recip- rocal. I did not quit the lodge without the most grateful sense of the many acfs of goodness which I had experienced in it, nor without the sip-^-rest respect for the virtues which I had wit- nessed among its i..embers. All the family accompanied me to the beach, and the canoe had no sooner put off than Wawatam commenced an address to the Ki'chi' Ma'ni'to, beseeching him to take care of me, his brother, till we should next meet. This, he had told me, would not be long, as he intended to return to Michilimackinac for a short time only, and then would follow me to the Sault. We had proceeded to too great a distance to allow of our hearing his voice, before Wawatar 1 had ceased to offer up his prayers. " Being now r, - longer in the society of Indians, I laid aside the dress, putting on that of a Canadian — a molton or blanket coat over my shirt, and a handkerchief about my head, hats being very little worn in this country. " At daybreak on the second morning of our voyage we em- barked, ,•'•:■ sently perceived several canoes behind us. As 90 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. B they approached, we ascertained them to be the fleet bound for the Missisaki, of which I huu been so long in dread. It amounted to twenty sail. On coming iip with us and surround- ing our canoe, and amid general inquiries concerning the news, an Indian challenged me for an Englishman, and his companions supported him by declaring that I looked very like one ; but I affected not to understand any of the questions which they asked me, and Madame Cadotte assured them that I was a Canadian whom she had brought on his first voyage from Montreal. 'The following day saw us safely landed at the Sault, where i experienced a generous welcome from M. Cadotte. There were thirty warriors at this place, restrained from joining in the war only by M. Cadotte's influence. Here for five days I was once more in the possession of tranquillity; but on the sixth a young Indian came into M. Cadotte's, saying that a canoe full of warriors had just arrived from Michilimackinac ; that they had inquired for me, and that he believed their intentions to be bad. Nearly at the same time a message came from the good chief of the village, desiring me to conceal myself until he should dis- cover the views and temper of the strangers. A garret was a second time my place of refuge ; and it was not long before the Indians came to M. Cadotte's. My friend immediately informed Mut'chi'ki'wish, their chief, who was related to his wife, of the de- sign imputed to them of mischief against myself. Mutchikiwish frankly acknowledged that they had had such a design, but added that, if displeasing to M. Cadotte, it should be abandoned. He then further stated that their errand was to raise a party of war- riors to return with them to Detroit, and that it had been their intention to take me with them. " In regard to the principal of the two objects thus disclosed, M. Cadotte proceeded to assemble all the chiefs and warriors of the village ; and these, after deliberating for some time among themselves, sent for the strangers, to whom both M. Cadotte and the chief of the village addressed a speech. In these speeches, after recurring to the designs confessed to have been entertained against myself, who was now declared to be under the immediate ESCAPE OF HENRY AND OTHERS. 9» "A n. imeni just arrivet fro- every one v fresh stratigei,-, > came accordingly, ite protection of all the chiefs, by whom any insult I might sustain would be avenged, 'he embassadors were peremptorily told that they m'f!;ht go back as they came, none, ol' the young men of this villag he' '■^oIish lugh to join them. I report was brought that a canoe had .^,ira. As this was a place from whicl! to aear news, a message was sent to these 'g them to come to the Council. They ;, being seated, along silence ensued. At length one of them, taking up a belt of wampum, addressed him- self thus to the assembly : ' My friends and brothers, I am come with this belt from our great father, Sir William Johnson. He desired me to come to you, as his embassador, and tell you that he is making a great feast at Fort Niagara ; that his kettles are all ready, and his fires lit. He invites you to partake of the feast, in common with your friends the Six Nations, which have all made peace with the English. He advises you to seize this opportunity of doing the same, as you can not otherwise fail of being destroyed ; for the English are on iheir march with a great army, which will be joined by different nations of Indians. In a word, before the fall of the leaf they will be at Michilimack- inac, and the Six Nations with them.' "The tenor of this speech greatly alarmed the Indians of the Sault, who, after a very short consultation, agreed to send twenty deputies to Sir William Johnson, at Niagara. This was a project highly interesting to me, since it offered me the means of leaving the country. I intimated this to the chief of the village, and received his promise that I should accompany the deputation. "Very little time was proposed to be lost in setting forward on the voyage ; but the occasion was of too much magnitude not to call for more than human knowledge and discretion ; and preparations were accordingly made for solemnly invoking and consulting the Great Turtle. In this, the first thing to be done, was the building of a large house or wigwam, within which was placed a species of tent, for the use of the priest, and reception of the spirit. The tent was formed of moose- IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^^^^4^. 121 |25 mm m 12.2 •u 1,^ iiii I 2.0 L25 III 1.4 11 1.6 <9^ > o>. /2 /. (3 / Photographic Science^ Corporation 33 WIST MAIN STRUT VyitSTH.N.Y. USM (7I«)«73.4903 ^O" \] \l^ 92 OLD AND KEW MACKINAC. skins, hung over a frame-work of wood. Five poles, or rather pillars, of five different species of timber, about ten feet in height, and eight inches in diameter, were set in a circle of about four feet in diameter. The iioles made to receive them were about two feet deep ; and the pillars being set, the holes were filled up again with the earth which had been dug out. At the top, the pillars were bound together by a circular hoop, or girder. Over the whole of this edifice were spread the moose-skins, covering it at top and round the sides, and made fast with thongs of the same ; except that on one side a part was left unfastened, to admit of the entrance of the priest. "The ceremonies did not commence but with the approach of night. To give light within the house, several fires were kindled round the tent. Nearly the whole village assembled in the house, and myself among the rest. It was not long before the priest appeared, almost in a state of nakedness. As he approached the tent, the skins were lifted up as mucli as was necessary to allow of his creeping under them, on his hands and knees. His head was scarcely inside, when the edifice, massy as it has been described, began to shake; and the skins were no sooner let fall than the sounds of numerous voices were heard beneath them ; some yelling, some barking as dogs, some howling like wolves ; and in this horrible concert were mingled screams and sobs, as of despair, anguish, and the sharpest pain. Articulate speech was also uttered, as if from human lips, but in a tongue unknown to any of the audience. "After some time, these confused and frightful noises were succeeded by a perfect silence; and now a voice, not heard before, seemed to manifest the arrival of a new character in the tent. This was a low and feeble voice, resembling the cry of a young puppy. The sound was no sooner distinguished, than all the Indians clapped thtir hands for joy, exclaiming that this was the Chief Spirit — the Turtle — the spirit that never lied I Other voices, which they had discriminated from time to time, they had previously hissed, as recognizing them to belong to evil and lying spirits, which deceive mankind. ii ESCAPE OF HENRY AND OTHERS. 93 1 -> New sounds came from the tent. During the space of half an hour, a succession of songs were heard, in which a diversity of voices met the ear. From his first entrance, till these songs were finished, we heard nothing in the proper voice of the priest ; but now he addressed the multitude, declaring the pres- ence of the Great Turtle, and the spirit's readiness to answer such questions as should be proposed. "The questions were to come from the chief of the village, who was silent, however, till after he had put a large quantity of tobacco into the tent, introducing it at the aperture. This was a sacrifice, offered to the spirit ; for spirits are supposed, by the Indians, to be as fond of tobacco as themselves. The tobacco accepted, he desired the priest to inquire, — Whether or not the English were preparing to make war upon the Indians? and, whether or not there were at Fort Niagara a large number of English troops ? These questions having been put by the priest, the tent instantly shook; and for some seconds after, it continued to rock so violently that I expected to see it leveled with the ground. All this was a prelude, as I supposed, to the answers to be given; but a terrific cry announced, with sufficient intelligibility, the departure of the Turtle, "A quarter of an hour elapsed in silence, and I waited impatiently to discover what was to be the next incident in this scene of imposture. It consisted in the return of the spirit, whose voice was again heard; and who now delivered a con- tinued speech. The language of the Great Turtle, like that which we had heard before, was wholly unintelligible to every ear, that of the priest excepted ; and it was, therefore, not till the latter gave us an interpretation, which did not commence before the spirit had finished, that we learned the purport of this extraordinary communu^ation. "The spirit, as we wero now informed by the priest, had, during his short absence, crossed Lake Huron, and even pro-' ceeded as far as Fort Ningara, which is at the head of Lake Ontario, and thence to Montreal. At P'ort Niagara he had 7 . il ■ '^^K 94 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. seen no great number of soldiers; but, on descending the St. Lawrence as low as Montreal, he had found the river covered with boats, and the boats filled with soldiers, in number like the leaves of the trees. He had met them on their way up the river, coming to make war upon the Indians. "The chief had a third question to propose; and the spirit, without a fresh journey to Fort Niagara, was able to give it an instant and most favorable answer. 'If,' said the chief, 'the Indians visit Sir William Johnson, will they be received as friends?' "'Sir William Johnson,' said the spirit (and after the spirit, the priest), 'Sir William Johnson will fill their canoes with presents: with blankets, kettles, guns, gunpowder, and shot, and large barrels of rum, such as tlie stoutest of the Indians will not be able to lift ; and every man will return in safety to his fanily.' At this, the transport was universal ; and, amid the clapping of hands, a hundred voices exclaimed, I will go too I I will go too I' "The questions of public interest being resolved, iiidiviJuals were now permitted to seize the opportunity of inquiring ir^'> the condition of their absent friends, and the fate of sucl were sick. I observed that the answers given to these que^;- tidns allowed of much latitude of interpretation. "The Great Turtle continued to be consulted till near midnight, when all the crowd dispersed to their respective lodges. " I was on the watch, through the scene I have described, to detect the particular contrivances by which the fraud was carried on ; but, such was the skill displayed in the perform- ance, or such my deficiency of penetration, that I made no discoveries, but came away, as I went, with no more than those general surmises which will naturally be entertained by every reader." Henry accompanied the Indian deputation, and reached Fort Niagara in safety, where he was received in the most cor- dial manner by Sir William Johnson. Thus he escaped the ESCAPE OF HENRY AND OTHERS. 9S sufferings and dangers which the capture of Michilimackinac had brought upon him. The reader will doubtless be interested to know the fate of Minavavana, or the Grand Sautor, as he was otherwise called, who led the Ojibwas at the massacre of Michilimackinac. The following notice of this chief is from the pen of J. Carver, Esq., an English gentleman who visited Michilimackinac in the year 1766, three years after the massacre: "The first I accosted were Chippewas, inhabiting near the Ottowan lakes; who received me with great cordiality, and shook me by the hand in token of friendship. At some little distance behind these stood a chief, remarkably tall and well made, but of so stern an aspect that the most undaunted per- son could not behold him without feeling some degree of terror. He seemed to have passed the meridian of life, and by the mode in which he was painted and tattooed, I discovered that he was of high rank. However, I approached him in a courte- ous Tuanner, and expected *:o have met with the same reception I had done firom the others; but, to my great surprise, he withheld his hand, and looking fiercely at me, said in the Chip- pewa tongue, 'Caurin nishishin saganosh;' that is, 'The En- plish are no good.' As he had his tomahawk in his hand, I expected that this laconic sentence would have been followed by a blow ; to prevent which I drew a pistol from my belt, and holding it in a careless position, passed close by him, to let him see I was not afraid of him. "I learned soon after, from the other Indians, that this was a chief called by the French the Grand Sautor, or the Great Chippewa Chief; for they denominate the Chippewas, Sautors. They likewise told me that he had been always a steady friend to that people, and when they delivered up Michilimackinac to the English, on their evacuation of Canada, the Grand Sautor had sworn that he would ever remain the avowed enemy of its new possessors, as the territories on which the fort is built belonged to him. " Since I came to England I have been informed that the '(< I 96 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. Grand Sautor, having rendered himself more and more dis- gustful to the English by his inveterate enmity toward them, was at length stabbed in his tent, as he encamped near Michi* limackinac, by a trader." For a little more than a year after the massacre, Mackinac was only occupied by the coureurs de bois and such Indian jands as chose to make it a temporar}- residence 5 but after the treaty with the Indians, Captain Howard, with a sufficiently large detachment of troops, was sent to take possession of it, and "once more the cross of St. George was a rallying point, and the protection of the adventurous traders." "In 1779, a party of British officers passed over from the point of the peninsula to the island of Michilimack'nac, to reconnoiter, with the intention of removing the fort thither. After selecting a location, they asked permission of the Indians to occupy it. Some time elapsed before their consent could be obtained ; consequently, the removal was not effected until the ensuing Summer. A government-house and a few other buildings were erected, on the site of the present village, and the troops took possession on the 15 th of July, 1780. "The removal of the inhabitants from the main-land to the island was gradual ; and the fort, which was built on the site of the present one, was not completed until 1783." I .' •I WAR OF I8l2. 97 I. CHAPTER VI. WAR OF 18ie. WHEN iSc war of 1812 broke out, the territory of Michi- gan was it> a defenseless condition. The military posts about the lakes were but poorly fortified, and manned with insufficient garrisons. They were situattd in the midst of almost impenetrable forests, filled with hostile savages, while at no great distance Wt-xs a large body of British subjects who could easily be brought against them. The garrison of Fort Mackinac, av the time, consisted of only fifty-seven effective men, imder the command of Lieutenant Hanks. The fort itself was mainly the same as now. The walls which had been built by the British in 1780, and which are still standing, were surmounted by a palisade of cedar pick- ets about ten feet high, intended as a defense against the Indians. To make it impossible to scale this palisade, each picket was protected at the top by iron prongs, made sharp, and by hooks on the outside. Through it were numerous port- holes, through which a leaden shower of death might be made to pour upon any foe that should dare to come in reach. Two or three guns of small caliber were planted at convenient places upon the walls, and one small piece in each of the three block- houses, which are yet standing. The town, at the time, was much smaller than now. Except the old distillery, which stood upon the beach some little distance beyond the present western limits of Shanty Town, no building had been erected west of the house now occupied by Mr. Ambrose Davenport, and none east of the fort garden, except one small shanty, which stood near the present site of the old Mission Church. With 009 ;i 98 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. exception, the houses were all one-story buildings, built of cedar, and roofed with cedar-bark. This one house, which formed the exception, was then occupied by a Dr. Mitchell, and is still standing. The several traders then on the island had each what might be called a store ; and there was one dock, so called, which consisted of two cribs filled with stone, and connected with each other and with the beach by two logs placed side by side. ' In 1795, when the British gave up Fort Mackinac to the Americans, the^ repaired to the island of St. Joseph, which is situated in St. Mary's River, about twenty miles above Detour, and there constructed a fort. This fort was garrisoned, at the commencement of the war, by a small company of British reg- ulars, under command of Captain Roberts. When war was declared, there was an unpardonable neg- ligence on the part of the War Department in not furnishing the Western frontiers with information of that important event. Owing to this negligence, the English at Detroit were in pos- session of this important news before it reached the American side, and the English commander, taking advantage of that fact, hastened to transmit the intelligence to all his outposts, and take such steps as would best secure the interests of the British Crown. Among his expedients was a plan for an im- mediate attack on Fort Mackinac. With almost incredible dis- patch, a messenger was sent to St. Joseph, bearing a letter to Captain Roberts, which, strange to say, ^bs franked by the Secre- tary of the American Treasury, containing the information of the declaration of war, and also the suggestion of an immediate attack on this fort as the best means of defending his own. Roberts was but poorly prepared for an enterprise of such moment ; yet, entering warmly into the views of his superior officer, and being cordially supported by the agents of the two Western Fur Companies, he was not long in deciding upon his course. Messengers were hastily dispatched to the Ottawas and Chippewas, two neighboring Indian tribes, who, eager for strife, lOon flocked to his standard in large numbers. The French, / :♦% WAR OP l8l2. 99 m jealous 'of the Americans, still farther augmented his strength, and, in the short space of eight days, he had a force, naval and military, of more than a thousand at his command. On the i6th day of July he embarked. Let us now turn our attention to Fort Mackinac. The first intimation which the little garrison and town received that all was not right, was from the conduct of the Indians. In obedience to the summons of Captain Roberts, they were going toward the Sault in large numbers. This caused some uneasiness, and Lieutenant Hanks, with the citizens of the place, made every effort to learn from them the object of their journey. Several councils were called, but in vain. See'gee'noe, Chief of the Ot- tawas, was questioned closely ; but not a word could be elicited from him which in any way explained their conduct. This caused the cloud of uncertainty to lower, and made the anxiety of the citizens more and more painful. Failing to get any satis- faction from the Indians, they next called a public meeting of the citizens to consult upon the matter, and it was resolved to make yet another effort to unravel the mystery. Mr. Michael Dousman, an American fur-trader, had some time before sent two of his agents, William Aikins and John Drew, into the Lake Superior region to trade with the Indinns for furs. He had heard of their return to the Sault, but kne. <•' no reason why they had not returned to head-quarters on thij island. He therefore, on the i6th of July, under pretense of ascertaining the reason for the delay, but really to learn what it was that called so manv or the Indians in that direction, set out for the Sault, starting about noon. When four or five miles this side of Detour, he learned the whole truth ; for, meeting Captain Roberts's expedition, he was taken prisoner, barely escaping with his life. When the night had let her sable curtain fall over the wide expanse of water and forest, and the expedition was nearing the island, it was proposed by Captain Roberts to send one Oliver, a British trader, to the people of the town, to inform them of his approach and conduct them to a place of safety. Mr. Dousman i m ill ii n lOO OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. now urged upon Captain Roberts that the people would perhaps be slow to believe such a report from a stranger, and, anxious for the safety of his friends, asked leave to return on that mission himself This he was permitted to do, having first taken oath that he would not give information of their approach to the gar- rison. Separating himself from his captors, he returned to the harbor in front of the town, and, an hour before day, proceeded to the house of Mr. Ambrose R. Davenport, and rapped loudly at the door. Mr. Davenport, on learning who was at the door, exclaimed, " What, Dousman, have you come back ?" and rising hastily, came out. " Yes," replied Dousman, " I have come back, and I have important news for you." After extorting from him a promise of secrecy, he proceeded to inform him that war had been declared, and that the British had come to take the fort being already upon the island. Judge of the surprise, we may say indignation, of the citizens, as, one by one, they received the information. We can well imagine that there was hurrying tc and fro through the streets of Mackinac on that eventful morning. Fifty-eight years have run their course, and nearly two generations of the human family have passed away since that time, and yet we can see the anxious faces that looked out from every door and window as the unwelcome news was whispered in the ears of startled sleepers. " What can it mean ?" is eagerly and simultaneously asked by every two that meet ; but not a man in Mackinac can unravel the mystery. Word is cir- culated that if the citizens will flee to the distillery they shall be safe. Like wild-fire the message goes from mouth to mouth, until every man, woman, and child is on the way to the place designated. ;. Meanwhile, Captain Roberts proceeded to the north-wesi side of the island, landed his forces, and began his march to- ward the fort. At the farm near the landing they took possession of a number of cattle belonging to Michael Dousman, who then owned the farm, and before the dawn of day reached the hollow which may be seen a short distance to the rear of the fort. Upon a little ridge which separates this hollow from the parade- WAR OP l8l2. 101 :•■-/» ground (and only a few paces from it), they planted a gun in the road, and anxiously awaited the approach of day. Inside the fort, all was the most perfect quiet ; not a suspicion that the war-bugle had been blown found a place in a single bosom, though the enemy's gun was even then pointing over them at the distance of but a few rods. The dawn appeared, and the unsuspecting garrison began to move. As Lieutenant Hanks looked out from his quarters, (the same as are now oc- cupied by the commanding officer), he was struck with the un- usual quiet that prevailed in the town below. What could it mean ? No smoke went curling gracefully upward to the sky as usual, and no hurried footsteps were in the streets. Strange I Something evidently was wrong ; and, summoning Lieutenant Darrow, he ordered him with two men to go down and ascertain what it might be. Accordingly, this officer descended to the town, to search for the trouble. He prodeeded on his way until he, too, had arrived at the distillery, when the truth flashed upon him. , Under a strong guard, which had been sent by Captain Roberts, the inhabitants of the place were awaiting the decision that would again make them subjects of the British Crown. Darrow . entered the distillery, and shook hands with its inmates ; but when he proposed to return to the fort, the guards proposed to make him prisoner. Taking a pistol in each hand, and demanding • permission to retire, he faced the guard, and, followed by his men, walked backward tili beyond their reach, when he returned without molestation to the fort. But Lieutenant Hanks had no need of waiting for the return of Darrow to know the truth, for the sharp report of a British gun soon told him all, and more than all, that he- wished to ' know; and before the distant forests had ceased to re-echo the sound, or the smoke of that unwelcome sunrise-gun was lost in the azure vault of heaven, a British officer, with flag in hand, appeared and demanded a surrender, emphasizing the demand by a statement of the overwhelming numbers of the invading army, and a threat of indiscriminate slaughter by the savages at the first motion toward resistance. . ^ i 1 02 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. When the inhabitants of the town had been gathered under guard, at the distillery, Messrs. Davenport, Abbct, Bostwick, Stone, and John Doysman, who were among the leading citizens, were advised to go at once to the landing and give themselves up to Colonel Dickson, who had been left at that point by Cap- tain Roberts for that purpose. This they accordingly did. They were then urged by Colonel Dickson to petition Lieutenant Hanks to surrender the fort at once, stating that the Indians would be entirely unmanageable in case there should be any resistance. This advice they also followed. The position in which Hanks was now placed can be easily imagined. Not having received intelligence of the declaration of war, he was wholly off his guard, and unprepared to defend himself The British troops, though less in number than the garrison under his command, had a position which commanded the fort, and were supported by nearly a thousand Indian war- riors, who had been instructed to show no mercy in case that any resistance was made. Such being the case. Lieutenant Hanks surrendered the fort without even the ceremony of a refusal, and his men were paroled and sent to Detroit. Some blame has been attached to the conduct of Lieuten- ant Hanks in this transaction. It has been claimed that, to say the least, the surrender was precipitate ; that some experiment of the enemy's power to take the fort was due to the honor of the American flag, and ought to have been made, and that the result would probably have shown " that an invading corps, com- posed of thirty regulars and a rabble of engagh and savages, with twltold rusty guns of sn>all caliber, was much less formi- dable than had been imagined." This seems very plausible, especially to those who are unacquainted with the savage bar- barities of Indian warfare ; but when it is considered that the first act of resistance would probably have been the signal for the uplifting of a thousand tomahawks and the brandish- ing of a thousand scalping-knives, we hesitate to condemn the conduct of Lieutenant Hanks in thus prompdy making the surrender. , . . « WAR OF l8l2. 103 Some one was doubtless to blame. It was an unpardonable oversight that information of tjie existence of war was not im- mediately transmitted to the fort, and thorough preparation made for its defense. It was r it, perhaps, the most flattering indi- cation of good generalship that Lieutenant Hanks should permit himself to be thus surprised. He was on, the extreme frontier, surrounded by Indian nations whom he knew to be unfriendly and treacherous, and but a few miles distant from the inveterate enemies of the American flag, whose wounded pride made them as unscrupulous as the savages themselves, and he should not have allowed himself to be thus surprised. Under these unfa- vorable circumstances, his vigilance ought to have saved him from the humiliating necessity of surrender; but after the English had planted their guns almost beneath the shadow of the fort, and the assembled savages, with implements of death in their hands, stood ready and eager, if occasion should offer, to repeat the bloody scenes of 1763 at Old Mackinac, was it not wise in him to make a virtue of necessity, and permit the English to take peaceable possession of the fort and the island ? We leave the reader to judge for himself in the premises. When the fort had been surrendered, the next step was to assemble the citizens at the government-house, and administer to them the oath of allegiance to the British Crown. Most of them willingly took this oath ; but Messrs. Davenport, Bostwick, Stone, Abbot, and the Dousman brothers refused to turn traitors to the country of their choice. With the exception of Michael Dousman, who was permitted to remain neutral, these men were immediately sent away with the soldiers, and were not permitted to return till after the declaration of peace. The services of Captain Roberts and his men, in thus sur- prising and capturing Fort Mackinac, were highly appreciated and liberally rewarded by the British Government. Prize-money to the amount of ten thousand pounds was divided ,among the volunteers and soldiers, and merchandise and arms distributed to the Indians. Sir William Johnson, Esq., as quoted in " Old Mackinaw," tells us that, in 1836, he " examined the list or pay- Jt:! k m Pf Si 104 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. roll for this prize-money ; the names of all those who partici pated in the taking of Fort Mackinac were there enrolled, the money was divided according to rank, and each person receipted for his individual share." Having thus easily and cheaply succeeded in wresting from the American people their most important Western military po- sition, the English at once set about the work of strengthening themselves in their new possession. Fearing that they would not he able to hold what they had so easily gained, they hastened to construct a fortification on the crowning point of the island, which, in honor of their reigning sovereign, they dignified with the title of Fort George. The remains of this old fori, now called Fort Holmes, may still be seen ; and, from its historical associations, it is a place of much interest. i ■'^^ WAR OP l8l2 — CO.'ICLUDKD. 105 :( CHAPTER VII. WAR OF 1812— CONCLUOBD. DURING the progress of the war, important changes took place in the Territory of Mi'-higan. Fort Dearborn, on the south-western extremity of L>iV.o Michigan, was forgotten alike by the Government and by General Hull, until about the middle of July, when Captain Heald, its commander, was or- dered to " dismantle the fort, destroy the surplus arms and am- munition, and withdraw the garrison to Detroit." But in the attempt to execute this order the displeasure of the Indians was incurred, and the whole garrison either killed or taken prisoners. Through the ignorance and cowardice of General Hull, the whole territory was finally surrendered to the English ; but the dis- graceful act roused such a feeling of indignation in the West, that every man's clieek burned with shame, and ten thousand men sprang to arms, eager for a sight of the foe. General Har- rison was placed in command, and the tide of victory soon turned iu favor of the American cause. On the tenth day of September, 1813, Commodore Perry gained his brilliant victory on Lake Erie. This agiiin opened the way to the territory abandoned by Hull, and Harrison pressed on to occupy it. The British army retreated before him, and he entered Detroit. On the 5th of October, a decisive victory was gained over the combined British and Indian forces, known as the victory of the Thames, in which Tecumseh, the great Indian war-chief, was slain. The death of this chief broke up the alliance of the Western tribes, and opened the way for treaties of peace. So far as the Ncrth west was concerned, the war wm now \\ -hSmS'. OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. practically closed ; yet there was one post of great importance which had not been wrested from the English. That post was at the head of the lakes, and was virtually ihc key of the West Active steps were soon taken to dispossess the English of this stronghold, and drive them wholly from the American soil. Immediately after the battle of the Thames, an expedition to the upper lakes was contemplated ; hut, unfortunately, it was prevented by the non-arrival of two schooners — the Chippcivay and Ohio — which had been sent to Cleveland and Bass Islands for provisions. These vessels had arrived off Maiden ; but a storm from the west drove them to the lower end of the lake, where they were stranded. Early in the following April, 1814, this expedition up Lake Hmon was again proposed, the object being twofold — the cap- ture of Fort Mackinac and the destruction of certain vessels, which it was said the English were building in Gloucester, or Matchadash Bay, at the southeast extremity of the lake. But this plan was also abandoned, partly from a want of men, partly from the belief that Great Britain did not, as had been supposed, intend to make an effort to regain the command of the upper lakes, and partly also from a misunderstanding between General Harrison and Colonel Croghan, who com- manded at Detroit, on the one hand, and the Secretary of War on the other. No sooner, however, had the plan of April been abandoned than it was revived again, in consequence of new information of the establishment at Matchadash Bay. In obedience to orders issued upon the second day of June, ample preparations were soon made. A squadron was fitted out, consisting of the United States sloops of war Alaf^ara and Lawretice, carrying twenty guns each, with the smaller schoon- ers, Caledonia^ Scorpion, Ti(:;rcs!;, Detroit, and others, and a land force of seven hundred and fifty men placed on board. Commodore Sinclair was the naval commander, and Lieutenant- Colonel Croghan, a young man who had gallantly and success- fully defended Sandusky during the early part of the war, had charge of the militi-i. Ambrose R. D.'wenport v.'ho, two years i I it- WAR OF l8i2 — CONCLUDED. 107 lis before, had been sent away from Mackinac on account of his loyalty, was chosen to accompany the expedition as quarter- master and guide. On the third day of July, when all was ready, and fair winds had proffered their needed assistance, the sails were spread and the fleet sped joyfully on its course. DifBculties encountered on the flats of Lake St. Clair, and the rapid current of the river, prevented the squadron from reach- ing Lake Huron till the 12th. High hopes of success and bright anticipations of glory, cheered the hearts of officers and men as that fleet of sloops and schooners, the largest that had ever ventured out upon the bosom of Lake Huron, proudly shaped its course for Matchadash Bay. Disappointment, how- ever, awaited them. Every possible effort was made to gain the desired bay, and destroy the imaginary vessels there build- ing, but in vain. No pilot could be found for that unfrequented part of the lake. Islands and sunken rocks were numerous, and threatened destruction to the fleet. The lake was almost continually covered with an impenetrable fog, and from the time already consumed in the fruitless attempt, the provisions of the army were growing short. Hence, that part of the work was abandoned, and the squadron pushed on toward the head- waters of Huron. When nearing the place of destination, a council was called to decide whether they should proceed at once to the capture of Fort Mackinac, or first repair to St. Joseph's, and destroy the enemy's works at that point. It was urged that an immedi- ate attack upon the fort was policy, inasmuch as the English, having had no intimation of their approach, were probably without Indian allies, and unprepared to defend the island; that, should they first proceed to St. Joseph's, time would thus be given the English to call in these savage auxiliaries, and BO strengthen themselves that, upon their return, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to take the place. But Sinclair thought that, by leaving a part of the squadron to cruise round the island during his absence, this could be prevented ; hence, in Bpite of salutary advice from those who knew the Indian •>K£i^ It io8 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. character far better than themselves, it was agreed between the naval and military commanders to proceed at once to St. Joseph's. This was a fatal error. As well attempt to prevent insects from flying through the air by holding up the hand, as to think of hindering Indians in their approach to the island with two or three gun-boats anchored in as many different places about it. On the 2oth of July they arrived at St. Joseph's, and found the British establishment at that point deserted. This they bumed, but left untouched the town and North-west Com- pany's storehouses. While wind-bound at this point, Sinclair captured the North-west Company's schooner Mink, from Mackinac to St. Mary's, with a cargo of flour, and by this means received intelligence that the schooner Perseverance was lying above the Falls of St. Mary, at the foot of Lake Superior, in waiting to transport the Mink's cargo to Fort Williams. Upon the receipt of this information, he dispatched Lieu- tenant Turner, an active and enterprising officer, to capture her, and, if possible, get her down the falls. Colonel Croghati detached Major Holmes with a party of regulars to co-operate in the expedition, in which the capture of St. Mary's was in- cluded. The following official report of Lieutenant Turner, to Sinclair, will give the reader a clear idea of what was effected by this movement. It is dated "U. S. Schooner Scorpion, off Michilimackinac, July 28, 1814:" " Sir, — I have the honor to inform you that, agreeable to your orders of the 2 2d instant, I proceeded on the expedition to Lake Superior with the launches. I rowed night and day; but, having a distance of sixty miles, against a strong current, information had reached the enemy at St. Mary's of our ap- proach about two hours before I arrived at that place, carried by Indians in their light canoes ; several of whom I chased, and by firing on them and killing some, prevented their purposes j some I captured and kept prisoners until my arrival, others WAR OF l8l2 — CONCLUDED. 109 escaped. The force under Major Holmes prevented any thing like resistance at the fort, the enemy, with their Indians, carry- ing with them all the light valuable articles, peltry, clothes, etc. I proceeded across the strait of Lake Superior without a moment's delay; and on my appearance, the enemy, finding they could not get off with the vessel I was in quest of, set fire to her in several places, scuttled, and left her. I succeeded in boarding her, and by considerable exertions extinguished the flames, and secured her from sinking. I then stripped her and prepared for getting her down the falls. Adverse winds pre- vented my attempting the falls until the 26th, when eveiy poS' sible effort was used, but I am sorry to say without success, to get her over in safety. The fall in three-quarters of a mile is forty-five feet, and the channel very rocky; the current runs from twenty to thirty knots, and in one place there is a per- pendicular leap of ten feet between three rocks ; here she bilged, but was brought down so rapidly that we succeeded in running her on shore below the rapids before she filled, and burned her. She was a fine new schooner, upward of one hun- dred tons, called the Perseverance, and will be a severe loss to the North-west Company. Had I succeeded in getting her safe, I could have loaded her to advantage from the enemy's storehouses. I have, however, brought down four captured boats loaded with Indian goods to a considerable amount ; the balance, contained in four large and two small storehouses, were destroyed, amounting in value from fifty to one hundred thou- sand dollars. All private property was, according to your orders, respected. The officers and men under my command behaved with great activity and zeal, particularly midshipman Swartwout. "I have the honor to be, sir, with gfreat respect, your obedient servant, Daniel Turner." On the return of the launches to St. Joseph's, the squadron proceeded to Mackinac, where it arrived on the 26th. During the time that had now elapsed since the first appearance of the fleet off Light-house Point, Colonel M'Donall, British Com- A: - :•%;■•••■;. ,"■■'■ no OLD AND NEW MACKINAC T ■ ■ mander at Mackinac, had not been disinclined to make the most of the opportunity thus afTorded him for strengthening his position. Every thing had been put in the most perfect order; weak points in the fortifications had been strengthened, and such aid as the country afforded had been summoned to his assistance. Nor was this aid inconsiderable. Under the unfortunate circumstances attending the attack, more efficient auxiliaries could not have been found than those very savages who, during that brief period of delay, had gathered in large numbers upon the island. Batteries had been planted at vari- ous places on the heights which best commanded the approaches to the island. One was situated on the height overlooking the old distillery, another upon the high point just west of the fort, and others along the ridge back of the present town from the fort to Robinson's Folly. Thus that officer, though he had 6ut few men comparatively in command, and must have sur- rendered at once had an immediate attack been made upon him, was able, with the advantage he had now gained, to with- stand a strong force. Various feelings agitated the inhabitants of the place as the squadron neared the island. Some had two years before parted with friends with whom they now hoped to be reunited, while others, who had turned traitor to the American flag, justly feared the gallows, should the approaching expedition succeed in taking the fort. Sinclair pushed up as near to the channel between Round and Mackinac Islands as he dared on account of the batteries of the enemy, and as close to the eastern extremity of Round Island as safety would permit, and anchored. Scarcely, how- ever, had the anchors reached the bottom, when the English opened a brisk fire upon him, and though he imagined himself beyond the reach of harm from that source, the balls that were falling around him and whizzing over his head told him that he must take a more respectful distance, or be destroyed. When the fleet had been removed farther away toward Bois Blanc, out of the reach of the enemy's guns, Croghan dispatched an officer WAR OF l8 1 2-— CONCLUDED. Ill with a number of men, and Mr. Davenport as guide, to Round Island, to reconnoiter the enemy's position, and if possible find some advantageous point at which to erect a battery. Having landed, the party proceeded cautiously across the island until they came to the point nearest Mackinac Island, when they began their return. They had selected, as the most advan- tageous position for a battery, a point just above the old lime- kiln seen from this village, which is the crowning point of the island. No sooner, however, had the movement been discovered by the British than two or three hundred birch -bark canoes with several batteaux and other boats, were launched, and a large party of Indians started in pursuit. They were not long in gaining the island. The party, suspicious of the approach of the Indians, hastened back toward their boa^; but the island was just at that time covered with a plentiful crop of rasp- berries, and the men, ignorant of the foe, loitered somewhat, in spite of all that could be said to them. When they reached their boat, the Indians could be seen skulking through the woods after them, and one of their number, a Frenchman, who had been more heedless than the rest, had been captured. They now sprang into their boat, and, we may believe, pushed off with as much dispatch as possible ; but at a short distance from the beach, scarcely out of reach of the enemy's fire, the boat struck a rock which was just beneath the surface of the water, and swung around as though upon a pivot. At this the savages, who were fast emerging from the thickets and approaching the beach, fired upon them. The fire was returned, but without execution on either side. Fearing that the Indians, upon arriv- ing at the point from which they had embarked, would be able to reach them, the officer ordered the soldiers to cease firing and endeavor to clear the boat from the rock. This they accom- plished with a little exertion, and returned without further mishap to the fleet. Upon learning that one of the party sent out had been captured by tlie Indians, Sinclair ordered a small vessel of one gun to pass round to the farther -sido of the island, that, if #. iii \ \ iia OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. possible, he might be retaken. A strong wind was blowing fmm the west, against which the little bark must make her way through the narrow channel that separates Round and Bois Blanc Islands ; hence, the task was difficult. She had scarcely laid her course when the beach was thronged with savages, and as often as she came in reach, in beating through this channel, these avages poured upon her a shower of musket-balls. This com- pliment was returned with much spirit ; but, aside from the injury done the vessel, neither party suffered loss. The Indians now began their return to Mackinac with their victim, chanting the death-dirge. A shot was fired at them from the Lawrence (anchored west of Round Island), but with- out effect. As they neared the island, the Indians that had remained came down to meet them, and the prisoner would have been killed and feasted upon by his inhuman captors, had not the British commander sent a strong guard of soldiers and rescued him, the moment the canoes touched the beach. During the next day, as the Lawrence was cruising about the island, a thick fog suddenly came down, and enveloped all in obscurity. When, later in the same day, this fog lifted, her commander found that he was within a very short distance of the south-west part of the island, with scarcely any wind, and within range of the enemy's guns. A vigorous fire was opened upon him from the battery near the west end of the fort, but with such want of skill that he suffered no damage from it. He fired a single shot in return, but could not elevate his guns sufficiently to batter the walls of the fort. Unfavorable weather prevented further operations for several days. Colonel Croghan, having now learned something of the strength of the enemy's fortifications, and of the number and spirit of the savage allies which the English had called to their assistance, despaired of being able to take the place by storm, as he had hoped. He therefore determined to effect a landing and establish himself on some favorable position, whence he might annoy the enemy by gradual and slow approaches, under cover of his artillery, which he knew to be superior to that of WAR OF l8l2 — CONCLUDED. 115 the foe. This he desired to attempt on the south-western side of the island, not far from that part of the present village known as Shanty Town. The shore there was unobstructed, and the ascent to the high table-land on which stands the fort compara- tively easy ; there were no coverts near, from which the savages might pour upon them a deadly fire ; there was no thick under- growth to be penetrated, in which might be laid the murderous ambuscade. If any attack should be made upon them on their way from the place of landing to the fort, it must be in an open field and with a chance for a fair fight, which Colonel Croghan knew to be contrary to every principle of Indian warfare. But there was one objection which Sinclair urged against a disembarkation at this point. The positions which his vessels would be obliged to take in order to effect it, would expose them to the fire of the fort, while he could not elevate his guns suf- ficently to do the enemy any injury. Hence, the idea was abandoned, and it was decided to land on the north-west side of the island, where Captain Roberts had landed two years before. A more unfortunate movement than this could not possibly have been made. The island, which is about three miles in diameter, is mostly covered with an almost impervious growth of small trees. A better Indian battle-field could not be found than what might be selected even to-day on this island. But if we step back across the chasm of more than half a century, and view it as it was when that little fleet was hovering around its beach in search of a safe and convenient landing, we shall see a very material change in it, as a whole, and that change we shall find to be favorable to the purposes of savage warfare. We can not suppose that the ax has lain idle for more than fifty years, that there has been no multiplication and enlargement of clear- ings, no thinning out of dense forests, no widening of Indian trails into wagon-roads. Indeed, authentic information, as well as reason, tells us that at that time the island was little less than a labyrinth. The mass of vegetation which every where covered it was intersected bv fo by foot-paths and occasional cart-roads, but ft 8 ^; 114 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. these were ill adapted to the wants of even a small army on the march. The clearings were small, and could serve only as so many slaughter-pens, in which the American troops might be butchered by blood-thirsty and unprincipled barbarians, concealed in the adjacent thickets. Who does not see that, on such ground, every Indian was more than a match for the best-disci- plined soldier, and that the large number of these savage auxil- iaries which the British commander had been able to collect during the absence of the fleet was far superior to any equal re-enforcement of regular troops he could have received? By thus landing at a point nearly opposite the fort. Colonel Croghan was compelled, amidst these embarrassing obstacles, to traverse nearly the whole width of the island in order to reach the British position. It was a forlorn hope. No superiority of generalship could effect against such obstacles ; no perfection of military discipline could counterbalance these dense thickets, swarming with fiends in human form. Colonel Croghan was too well acquainted with Indian military tactics, and also with that dastardly spirit of cowardice which for years had made the English the instigators of the most atrocious and bloody deeds that had ever stained the character of a savage, to be wholly unaware of the dangers before him. But, nothing daunted by these difficulties, this gallant officer pre- pared to disembark his forces, hoping to gain the clearing near the landing, and there fortify himself, thus compelling the British to attack him in his stronghold. On the 4th of August, the vessels of the fleet were ranged in line, at the distance of three hundred yards from the beach, and the small boats made ready to carry the devoted army to the island. Scarcely, however, had the work of disembarkation begun, when the adjacent thickets were observed to be full of savages, plumed and painted for the strife. When all was ready, and the word of command had been spoken, they moved toward the landing with measured dip of the oar, and meanwhile a brisk cannonading cleared the thickets of their lurking foes. Under cover of the guns the landing was easily eflected, and the WAR OF l8l2 — CONCLUDED. "5 best possible arrangement of the troops made, preparatory to the marching. , I While the American squadron had been cruising about the island, the English had taken every precaution to secure them- selves against surprise. Guards had been stationed at short in- tervals around the entire island, and every road and bridle-path intersecting the island had, with one exception, been effectually blockaded. The road running from the rear gate of the fort back to Early's (then M. Dousman's) farm was alone left free. As soon as it became evident that the Americans intended to effect a landing, the whole Indian force, with the Canadians and most of the soldiers, moved back to that part of the island to resist the attempt. After we have passed through the gate on our way to Early's farm-house, we see upon our left an orchard through which runs a little ridge, crossing the road at right angles.* This ridge, at the time of which we write, formed the boundary-line of the clearing on the east. North and west from the house was a swamp, since converted into a meadow. Upon the south and south-west the clearing was the same as now, only more circum- scribed. The British troops were posted in the edge of the woods south from the road, and behind the elevation mentioned, while in the road, on the ridge, a battery was planted. To the north and south of the clearing, the Indians, with an occasional vagabond trader more brutal even than themselves, lay con- cealed in large numbers. Colonel Croghan, having quickly formed his line, had ad- vanced to the edge of the clearing, or farm, when intelligence reached him that the enemy was in waiting for him, and ready to dispute his progress. In a few seconds after he received this information, a fire was opened upon him from the enemy's battery. He now carefully surveyed the clearing before him, and became convinced that the enemy's position was well selected ; but, by a vigorous movement, he hoped to outflank him, and gain • See Man of Mack'.nac Island, fig. 3. Ii6 OLJi AND NEW MACKINAC. hU '"^r. Accordingly, he di ided to change his own position, whiu ^^s then " two lines, the militia forming the front," and advance, M-y// Holuios's battalion of regul i on the right of the militia. This movement was immediately ordered, and, to en- courage his men. Major Holmes led them in person ; but, while gallantly pressing on to the charge, a destructive fire was opened by some Indians concealed in a thicket near the American right, and the brave Major Holmes fell, mortally wounded. Captain Desha, the officer next in rank, also received a very severe, though not fatal, wound. The battalion having now lost tiie services of its most valuable officers, fell into confusion, from which the best exertions of its remaining officers were not able to recc'ver it. Findi»>g it impossible 'to gain the enemy's left, owing to the impenetrable thickness of the woods, a charge was ordered to be made by the regulars immediately against the front. This charge, though made in some confusion, served to drive the enemy back into the woods, whence an annoying fire was kept up by the Indians. Lieutenant Morgan was now ordered up with a light piece, to assist the left, nhich av this time was par- ticularly galled, and the excellent service of this piece forced the enemy to retire to a greater distance. Croghan had now reached the point at which he had hoped to fortify himself, and thence harass the enemy at pleasure ; but he found it by no means tenable on account of the thickets and ravines surrounding it. He therefore determined no longer to expose his troops to the fire of an enemy having every advan- tage which could be obtained from number? , and a knowledge oi the position, and ordered an immediate retreat to the place •.' landing. When the troops had regained the shipping, the fleet again moved round toward Bois Blanc, and anchored. While li - forces were preparing to disembark, previous to the engagemet Mv, Davenport had urged Major Holmes to ex- change his ui^ifo ". lor a .'^mmon suit, stating that the Indians would otherv.ist' c rti ,;'.y make a mark of him; but Holmes replied that his uni' cna was made to wear, and he intended to WAR OF l8l2— CONCLUDRD. 117 wear it, adding that if it was his day to fall, he was willing. The sequel showed how unwise he was in not listening to this advice. The party of Indians posted on the right were Winne- bagoes from Green Bay — the most savage and cruel of all the British allies ; and they, indeed, did make a mark of him. Five we!!-aimed bullets simultaneously entered his breast, and he ex- pired almost instantly. Captain Desha also felt the fury of these savages, but fortunately escaped with his life. Captain Vauhorn and Lieutenant Jackson, both brave, intrepid young men, also fell mortally wounded at the head of their respective commands. Twelve privates were killed, six sergeants, three corporals, one musician, and twenty-eight privates wounded, and two privates missing. The most shocking barbarities were practiced on the bodies of the slain. They were literally cut to pieces by thei rsavage conquerors. Our informant remembers seeing the Indians come to the fort after the engagement, some with a hand, some with a head, and some with a foot or limb ; and it is officially stated by Sinclair, upon the testimony of two ladies (Mrs. Davenport and Mrs. John Dousman), who were present and witnessed it, that the hearts and livers of these unfortunate men were taken out, and " actually cooked and feasted on — and that, too, in the quarters of the British officers, sanctioned by Colonel M'Donall — by the savages." Fragments of these bodies were taken to the Indian graveyard west of the village, and placed on poles over the graves, where they remained for ten days. Fortunately, however, the body of Major Holmes — which, by neglect of the soldiers in whose hands it had been placed, had been left on the field — escaped the sad fate of the others. During the action these men concealed the body by covering it with rails and leaves, so that the Indians did not find it. It had, however, been stripped ; but in this case the British commander acted with promptness and humanity, threatening to hang the perpetrators, should they be found out, if the articles taken were not imme- diately .0 turned. This threat soon brought the clothes, watch, papers, etc., which had been stolen by two Frenchmen, into ' 1 i 1, 1^; fti u. OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. ; i his possession ; and, with the body, they were given up to the Americans. Thus, in loss and disgrace, ended the effort to wrest Fort Mackinac and the island upon which it stands from the English. When the fleet first appeared off Light-house Point, there was but a single company of troops in the fort, and but few, if any, Indian auxiliaries upon the island, and had Colonel Croghan at once demanded a surrender instead of at first going to St. Joseph's, the post would doubtless have passed back into the hands of the Americans without shedding of blood, and with as little parley as, two years before, it had passed into the hands of the English. Or, had a prompt and willing surrender been refused, a vigorous attack must have quickly reduced the gar- rison to the necessity of yielding, as the American force was greatly superior to the English. But the delay was pregnant with disaster and disgrace. Each moment in which the enemy was permitted to strengthen his defenses and increase his num- bers, diminished fearfully the chances of success. Even after the return, had the landing been made at the point desired by Colonel Croghan, defeat might have been avoided, as under those circumstances the Indian allies would have been nearly useless ; but as it was, defeat was almost a necessity. An army of iron men could scarcely have traversed the whole breadth of this island under the rapid and continuous shower of musket- balls which would have been poured upon them, without faltering and falling into confusion. Having failed in the reduction of Fort Mackinac, which Sin- clair denominated a " perfect Gibraltar," measures were now taken to starve it into submission, by cutting off its supplies. The troops, with the exception of three companies, were dis- patched in two vessels to join General Brown on the Niagara, and the remainder of the s^'"iadron, a pilot having been now se- cured, directed its course to the east side of the lake, to break up any establishments which the enemy might have in that quarter. While the Americans were masters of Lake Erie, there were only two oracticabh lines of communication between the remote WAR OF 1812 — CONCLUDED. 119 garrison of Fort Mackinac and the lower country. The first of these was with Montreal by way of the Ottawa, Lake Nippising, and French River, and the second with York by means of Lake Simcoe and the Nautauwasaga River. Having learned that the first of these communications was impracticable, at that season of the year, on account of the marshy state of the portages, they proceeded to the mouth of the Nautauwasaga, in hopes of find- ing the enemy's schooner Nancy, which was thought to be in that quarter. On the 13th of August, the fleet anchored off the mouth of that river, and the troops were quickly disembarked for the purpose of fixing a camp on the peninsula formed by the river and the lake. On reconnoitering the position, the schooner was dis- covered in the river, a few hundred yards above, under cover of a block-house erected on a commanding situation on the opposite shore. On the following morning a fire was opened by the ship- ping upon the block-house, but with little effect, owing to a thin wood which intervened and obscured the view. But about twelve o'clock two howitzers were landed, and, placed within a few hundred yards of the block-house, commenced throwing shells. In a few minuter one of these shells burst in the block-house and shortly after blew up the magazine, allowing the enemy scarcely time to make his escape. The explosion of the maga- zine set fire to a train which had been laid for the destruction of the vessel, and in a few minutes she was enveloped in flames, and her valuable cargo, consisting of several hundred barrels of provisions, intended as a six months' supply for the garrison at Mackinac, was entirely consumed. Colonel Croghan did not think it advisable to fortify and garrison Nautauwasaga, because the communication from York was so short and convenient that any force left there might be easily cut off" during the Winter j hence, Sinclair left the Tigress and Scorpion to blockade it closely until the season should be- come too boisterous for boat transportation, and the remainder of the squadron returned to Detroit. But this blockade, which, had it been properly enforced, Riust speedily have nriade a bloodless conquest of Mackinac* < I ).t M IJI. , Ml 120 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. was soon brought to an end by the capture of both these schooners. After the destruction of the Nancy, her captain, with several of his men, at once repaired to Fort Mackinac to communcate the news of the loss to Colonel M'Donall and the little garrison under his command. Under the circumstances, it was unwel- come news indeed. Provisions were already getting low ; a single loaf of bread was worth one dollar and a half, the men were subsisting on half rations, and had already been reduced to the necessity of killing several horses to ward off starvation. And, worse than all, a long and dreary Winter was near at hand, portending, under the circumstances, nothing but death from starvation. Something must be done ; and accordingly an ex- pedition was at once fitted out by Colonel M'Donall, consisting of a force of a hundred and fifty sailors and soldiers, and two hundred and fifty Indians, in open boats, to break the blockade, if possible. When this party had arrived in the vicinity of the American vessels, the Tigress, which for several days had been separated from the Scorpion, was surprised and boarded during the night of September 3d, it being very dark, and after a desperate hand to hand struggle, in which some were killed and several wounded, was captured. During the contest, an attempt was made by the Americans to destroy the signal-book, but, unfortunately, without success ; and by the aid of this book the Tigress, now manned by English officers and men, surprised and captured the Scorpion on the morning of the 6th, at dawn of day. This was a finishing stroke to the ill-fated enterprise, and Mackinac was left secure in the hands of the English until peace was declared. During the following Winter, 1814-15, peace was concluded between the belligerent nations, and in the Spring the post was evacuated by the English, and a company of American troops, under Colonel Chambers, took peaceable possession. MAI' OF MACKINAW ISLAND. 1. Rattle Ground. 4. Place of Burial 2. Position of American gun. 5. Parade Ground. 3. Position of British ^un, 6. Fort Mackinac. •J, Mission Mouse. 8. Island House. Q, School House. MACKINAC ISLAND. 121 CHAPTER VIII. MACKINAC ISLAND. THIS island, as far back as we have any account of it, has been a place of great interest. It received its orig- inal name from the Indians. An old legend relates that a large number of these people were once assembled at Point St. Ignace, and, while intently gazing at the rising of the sun, during the Great Manitou, or February Moon, they beheld the island suddenly rise up from the water, assuming its present form. From the point of observation, it bore a fancied resem- blance to the back of a huge turtle ; hence, they gave it the name Moc'che'ne'mock'e'nung, which means a great turtle. This name, when put into a French dress, became Michilimack- inac. From the island it passed to the adjacent points. In some connections in the early history, the name is applied to the section as a whole; in others, to the point north of the Straits J but more frequently to that south of the Straits, now known as Old Mackinac. The term is now obsolete, except as applied to the county which lies immediately north of the Straits, in which the island is included. The island has now taken upon itself the name of Mackinac, pronounced Mack- inaw ; ac is the original French termination. Indian mythology makes this island the home of the Giant Fairies; hence, the Indians have always regarded it with a species of veneration. The day is still within the memory of many individuals now living on the island when the heathen Indians, in passing to and fro by its shores, made offerings of tobacco and other articles to these Great Spirits, to propitiate their good-will. These fairies, we are told, had a subterranean r^iiii 122 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. abode under the island, the entrance to which was near the base of the hill, just below the present southern gate of the fort. An old Indian Chees'a'kee, or Spiritualist, who once encamped within the limits of the present garrison, is related to have visited this abode of the fairies under the following circumstances : During the night, while wrapped in the uncon- sciousness of a sound slumber, one of these spirits approached the place where he was, laid his shadowy hand upon him, and beckoned him to follow. In obedience to the mysterious re- quest, his spirit left the body, and went with the fairy. Together they entered into the mystic dwelling-place of the spirits. Here the Cheesakee was introduced to the Great Spirits assembled in solemn conclave. He was lost in wonder and admiration at what he saw around him. The place where they were assem- bled seemed to be a very large and beautiful wigwam. After spending some time in the fairy abode, the master-spirit of the assembly directed one of the lesser spirits to show the Indian out, and conduct him back to his body. What were the pro- ceedings of that assembly, the Indian could not be induced to tell, nor were the particulars of what he saw during that mysterious visit ever made knt.'wn to his fellow red-men. From their fairy abodes, these spirits issued forth at the twilight hour to engage, "with rapid step and giddy whirl, in their mystic dance." Something of the feeling of veneration which the red men had for this, to them, enchanted island, may be learned from the following soliloquy of an old Indian chief. He was just leaving the island to visit his friends in the Lake Superior country. The shades of night were falling around him, and the deep-blue outlines of the island were dimly shadowed forth. As he sat upon the deck of the steamer and watched the "lovely isle" fast receding from his view, memory was busy in recalling the scenes of by-gone days, and the emotions of his heart found expression in these words : " Moc'che'ne'mock'e'nung, thou isle of the clear, deep-water lake, how soothing it is, from amidst the curling smoke of my MACKINAC ISLAND. 123 opawgun (pipe), to trace thy deep blue outlines in the distance; to call from memory's tablets the traditions and stories con- nected with thy sacred and mystic character! How sacred the regard with which thou hast been once clothed by our Indian seers of by-gone days ! How pleasant in imagination for the mind to picture and view, as if now present, the time when the Great Spirit allowed a peaceful stillness to dwell around thee ; when only light and balmy winds were permitted to pass over thee, hardly ruffling the mirror surface of the waters that surrounded thee ; or to hear, by evening twilight, the sound of the Giant Fairies as they, with rapid step and giddy whirl, dance their mystic dance on thy limestone battlements ! Noth- ing then disturbed thy quiet and deep solitude but the chipper- ing of birds and the rustling of the leaves of the silver-barked birch." But these fairy spirits have long since deserted their island home, and gone, we know not where ; and the race of beings in whose imagination they lived has also well-nigh passed away. From Father Marquette's description of the island, given in a previous chapter, we learn that it was often the chosen home of the savage tribes. Marquette was doubtless the first white man to visit it, or at least to dwell upon it. The first perma- nent white settlement on this island was made in 1780, when the fort and town were removed to this point, not because of its superiority in a commercial or military point of view, but for the security which it afforded against the surrounding Indian tribes. Had that one event of June 4, 1763,* never occurred, this island would no doubt have still been in the hands of nature, and the fort and town at "Old Mackinac," where they properly belong. Contrary to the treaty of 1783, the English held possession of the "sland until 1795, when they were compelled to give it up. The size and population of the town has varied at differ- ent stages of its history. In 1820 it consisted "of about one * See page 6a. iii v^. 124 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. hundred and fifty houses, and some four hundred and fifty per- manent inhabitants." At that time there was no school, no rehgious service, no attorney, and no physician (other than at the garrison) in the place. There were, however, courts of law, a post-office, a jail, and one or more justices of the peace. At present, there are about nine hundred inhabitants, many of whom are engaged in fishing, and absent during a greater part of the Summer. The most interesting feature of the island, since the war of i8i2, has been its connection with the fur-trade carried on by John Jacob Astor, Esq., of New York. Previous to 1S09, an association of traders existed, called the Mackinac Company ; but at that date Mr. Astor organized the American Fur Com- pany. Two years after this, he bought out the Mackinac Com- pany, and established a new Company known as the South-west. During the Winter of 18 15 and 18 16, Congress enacted a law that no foreigner should engage in trade with the Indians who did not become a citizen, and after this Mr. Astor again estab- lished the American Company. This Company was organized with a capital of two million dollars. It had no chartered right to a monopoly of the Indian trade, yet by its wealth and influ- ence it virtually controlled that trade through a long series of years. The outposts of the Company were scattered through- out the whole West and North-west. This island was the great central mart. The goods were brought to the Company's store- houses at this point from New York by way of the lakes, and from Quebec and Montreal by way of the Ottawa, Lake Nipis- sing, and French River, and from this point they were dis- tributed to all the outposts; while from all the Indian countries the furs were annually brought down to the island by the Com- pany's agents, whence they were sent to New York, Quebec, or the various markets of the Old World. The traders and their clerks who went into " the countries " were employed by the Company at a salary of from four to six hundred dollars per year, but the engagis or boatmen who were engaged in Canada, generally for five years, received, besides a yearly supply of a MACKINAC ISLAND. 125 few coarse articles of clothing, less than one hundred dollars per annum. Generally, at the end of five years, the poor voyageurs were in debt from fifty to one hundred and fifty dollars, which thejf must pay before they could leave the country; and the trader often took advantage of this, even encouraging the men to get in debt, that they might avoid the necessity of introduc- ing new and inexperienced men into the country. The men were fed mainly on soup made of hulled corn, or sometimes of peas, with barely tallow enough to season it, and without salt, unless they purchased it themselves at a high price. The goods were put up in bales or packs of about eighty pounds each, to be carried into the countries. Upon setting out, a certain num- ber of these packs were assigned to each boatman, which he must carry upon his back across the portages, some of which were fifty miles over. They performed the journeys over these portages by short stages, or by carrying the packs but a short distance at a time, thus never permitting their goods to be separated. The route of travel to the head-waters of the Mis- sissippi was by way of Lake Huron, -St. Mary's River, I,ake Superior, and such rivers as would take them nearest the par- ticular points to which the various parties had been assigned. The valleys of the Mississippi and the Missouri were reached by way of Green Bay, Fox, and Wisconsin Rivers. The traders often occupied nearly the whole Summer in the trip from their trading-posts to Mackinac and back. Mr. Astor's principal agent on this island was Ramsey Crooks, to whom, with others, he sold out in 1834 ; but the trade now lacked the energy and controlling influence which Mr. Astor had given it, and the Company soon became involved. In 1848, the business was closed, and the property sold. In its best days, the business was one of mammoth proportions ; but it exists now only in history. Schoolcraft gives the following description of the state of society in 1820 : " Society at Michilimackinac consists of so many diverse elements, which impart their hue to it, that it is not easy for a passing traveler to form any just estimate of it. The mm ''ft. I' :* Si i-^'-i m fi m m I 126 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. I V' 1*1 Indian, with his plumes and gay and easy costume, always im- parts an Oriental air to it. To this the Canadian — <;ay, thought- less, ever bent on the present, and caring nothing for to-morrow — adds another phase. The trader, or interior clerk, who takes his outfit of goods to the Indians, and spends eleven months of the year in toil and want and petty traffic, appears to dissipate his means with a sailor-like improvidence in a few weeks, and then returns to his forest wanderings, and boiled corn, pork, and wild rice again supply his wants. There is, in these periodical resorts to the central quarters of the Fur Company, much to remind one of the old feudal manners, in which there is proud hospitality and a show of lordliness on the one side, and gay obsequiousness and cringing dependence on the other, at least till the annual bar- gains for the trade are closed." The elements of the present population are much the same as during the palmy days of the fur-trade. Indians, primitive possessors of the " beautiful isle," are still present, and corvtitute no inconsiderable portion of the inhabitants. Many of tie old French and English voyageurs, who have spent the best part of their lives in the employ of the fur-trade, are also living upon the island. The population is mixed. English, French, and Indian blood frequently flows in the veins of the same family. Aside from the original population, there are several very ex- cellent families, who have come to the place at a comparatively recent date. The town itself is a perfect curiosity. It is situated at the foot of the bluff, upon the brow of which stands the fort, and extends for the distance of about a mile around the beach. It contains two churches, four good hotels, capable of accommo- dating from thirty to two hundred guests each, seven stores, and four or five groceries, about one hundred dwelling houses, a post- office, court-house, and jail. Some of the buildings are of modern architecture, but others are antique in design and appearance. There are buildings yet standing, parts of which were brought from Old Mackinac when the town and fort were removed from tliat point, while several of the houses, some of which are yet I j.,' '4i: ! n' *>' h'' ' pi r i 1 •:| u I MACKINAC ISLAND. 127 occupied, were standing during the troubled and exciting scenes of i8i3. Many ot the fences are of the original palisade style. Let us make the circuit of the town, starting from the docks. As we proceed along the beach toward the West, we see build- ings of every description, from the most modern style down to the shanty with clapboards and shingles of bark. Beyond the extreme western limits of Shanty Town is the site of the old distillery, where, in 1812, the terrified and trembling inhabitants were gathered for safety while Captain Roberts, with his savage allies, should possess himself of the fort and island. Above this is the old Indian burying-ground, where still sleeps the moldering dust of many a brave son of the forest. Retracing our steps, we turn to the left and pass through Shanty Town, principally oc- cupied Ly r.shermen, who are absent during most of the Summer. The fis|iing-grounds extend from Drummond's Island, near Detour, around the north shores of Huron and Michigan to Green Bay, including the islands in the northern portion of both these lakes. As we return to the town, on the back street we notice on the right the old Catholic burying-ground, upon which once stood the old log church brought from Old Mackinac after the massacre. Farther along, upon the same side of the road, is an antique house with huge stone chimneys and dormer win- dows, which, during the war of 1812, was occupied by Dr. Mitchell. Mitchell was a traitor, and after the return of peace, had to leave the island and country for Canada. Adjoining the court-house is the old store-house of the American Fur Com- pany, which was the place of deposit and point of departure for all the merchandise of that Company. The adjacent building, now the M'Leod House,* was put up by the Company for the accommodation of the clerks when they came out of the Indian countries during the Summer. Returning now to the point from which we set out, let us make our way toward the eastern extremity of the town. The large garden upon our left as we leave the business portion of * See map, fig. la iii'il lilll '"'^i^ t r I i:k 128 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. the town, belongs to the fort. It is cultivated by the soldiers of the garrison, and does much toward supplying them with vegetables of almost every variety. Potatoes, beets, carrots, radishes, onions, cabbage, cucumbers, etc., are produced in great abundance and of the best quality. Cherries, currants, strawberries, and other small fruits also grow plentifully in this nd other gardens ; and from one tree, standing near the fort barn, twenty-two barrels of apples were taken at a single gathering, a few years since. In this garden is the site of the old government or council house, the first building ever erected upon the island. Adjoining the garden on the east is the old agency prop- erty.* The house was erected about fifty years ago by the Gov- ernment, as a residence and office for the United States Indian Agent. For many years all the Indian payments were made in this building, which was thus made to subserve the same gen- eral purpose as the old government-house. The other building, called the dormitory', now occupied by the union-school of the place,t was erected by the Government for the accommodation of the Indians during their periodical visits to the island for the purpose of receiving their annuities, but never much used by them. The next building which attracts particular attention is the Catholic church. This was at first a small log building, erected in 1832 by Father Mazzuchelli, but, with two enlarge- ments, it has grown to its present dimensions. The society is now contemplating the erection of a new and more commodious edfice. At the extreme eastern end of the town is the mission t prop- erty, now in possession of Mr. E. A. Franks, the house being kept by him as a hotel. The history of this mission is briefly as follows : In the month of June, in the year 1820, the Rev. Dr. • Burned since above was written. tThis i)uilding has now lieen donated to the citizens of Mackinac for ■chool purposes. t See map, fig. 7. 1 i i 1 i f 1 f- 1 '«' 1 MACKINAC ISLAND. 129 Morse, father of the inventor of the telegraph, visited this island, and preached the first Protestant sermon ever delivered in this portion of the North-west. Becoming particularly interested in the condition of the traders and natives, he made a report of his visit to the United Foreign Mission Society of New York, in consequence of which the Rev. W. M. Ferry, a graduate of Union College, was sent in 1822 to explore the field. In 1823, Mr. Ferry, with his wife, opened a school for Indian children which, before the close of the year, contained twelve scholars. In 1826, the school and little church passed into the hands of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and as Mackinac was easy of access to the Indians of the lakes and the Upper Mississippi, it was determined to make it a central sta- tion, at which there should be a large boarding-school, composed of children collected from all the North-western tribes. These children were expected to remain long enough to acquire a com- mon-school education and a knowledge of manual labor. Shops and gardens were provided for the lads, and the girls were trained for household duties. The first report of the mission made to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was at the meeting held in New York in September, 1827. It con- tained the following facts : Number of teachers, eight ; Rev. William M. Ferry, Superintendent ; Mr. John S. Hudson, teacher and farmer ; Mr. Heydenburk and wife, Mrs. Hudson, Miss Eunice Osmer, Miss Elizabeth M'Farland, and Miss Delia Cooke, teachers ; there were one hundred and twelve scholars in the school, who had been collected from the whole region ex- tending from the white settlements south of the Great Lakes to Red River and Lake Athabasca ; there had been several inter- esting cases of conversion ; French priests had occasionally vis- ited the region, and opposed the mission to the extent of their power. During the Winter of 1828-9, * revival influence prevailed. Thirty-three were added to the Church, and ten or twelve others appeared to have become penitent for sin. Instances of con- version occurred even in the d».*plhs of the wilderness, among h ^W^^ II =:,:|;|f I30 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. the traders. The Church now numbered fifty-two members — twenty-five of Indian descent and twenty-seven whites, exclusive of the mission family. The establishment continued prosperous for several years. At times there were nearly two hundred pupils in the school, among whom were representatives of nearly all the Indian tribes to the north and west. Owing to the great expense of the school, the plan was mod- ified in 1833, the number of scholars being limited to fifty, and smaller stations commenced in the region beyond Lake Superior and the Mississippi. In 1834, Mr. Ferry was released from the mission ; und in 1837, the population having so changed around Mackinac, and the resort of the Indians to the island for pur- poses of trade having so nearly ceased that it was no longer an advantageous site for an Indian mission, the enterprise was abandoned. The mission-house was erected in 1825, and the church in 1829-30. After the close of the mission, the property passed into the hands of the present occupant. We can not say how much or how little was accomplished by this mission ; the reve- lations of eternity alone will give full and reliable information on this point. We only know that many who would otherwise have been left in ignorance and heathenism are indebted to the Chris- tian eflforts of these missionaries for a knowledge both of the arts and sciences, and of the way of salvation. Having now made the circuit of the town, we are ready for the two forts. Fort Mackinac, which stands on a rocky eminence just above the town, was built by the English ninety years ago. It is now garrisoned by a small company of United States troops under the command of Brevet Major Leslie Smith. There are six brass pieces, and arms and accouterments for a full company. The buildings are a hospital, just outside the wall east of the fort ; a guard-house, near the south-gate ; officers' quarters, near the south-west angle of the fort, and on the hill near the flag- staff; quarters for the men, in the center; block-houses on the walls; magazine, in the hollow, not far from the south gate; gtorehouses, offices, etc. There are persons yet living on the MACKINAC ISLAND. 131 island who, during the troubles of 18 14, took refuge in these self-same block-houses. Passing out at the rear gate of Fort Mackinac, we cross the parade-ground, and see the spot where Captain Roberts planted his guns in 18 12, while his whole force of Indians was concealed in the adjacent thickets. Half or three-quarters of a mile to the rear of Fort Macki- nac, on the crowning poin*- of the island, is Fort Holmes. This, as we have seen, was buiic soon after the British captured the post in 18 1 2. Each citizen was compelled to give three days' work toward its construction. When finished, the excavation encircling the embankment, or earthworks, was much broader and deeper than now, and the embankment itself was lined on the outside by cedar poles, reaching from the bottom . of the ditch to its top ; while a quarter or a third of the distance from the top of the embankment to ..he bottom of the -ditch, cedar pickets interlocked with these poles, which extended out over the ditch like the eaves of a house, making it absolutely im- possible for any one to get inside the fort except by the gate. The place of the gate is seen on the east side, one of the posts yet remaining to mark its position. In the center of the fort was erected a huge block-house, beneath which was the maga- zine. Near the gate was the entrance to several underground cellars, which have now caved in. The fort was defended by several small guns, the largest of which was an eighteen pounder, placed on the point, on the opposite side of the cellars from the fort. They undertook to dig two wells j but, finding no water at the depth of one hundred feet, they became discouraged, and relinquished the attempt. The foit, we are told, presented a very fine appearance when finished. It was first named Fort George ; but, after the surren- der of the island to the Americans, it was called Fort Holmes, in memory of the lamented Major Holmes, who fell as before recorded.* t After the return of the Americans, a party of officers, wishing *Se« pace 11& ^< ■ - ■■'■' " ■ " ■ ■■■"■":.■ ■ ■- ■ , - ■' ' .' ■ '- .' - 132 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. 1 to see what they could do, planted a gun at the rear gate of Fort Mackinac, and made the block-house in Fort Holmes a mark. They soon tore this monument of English absurdity in pieces, showing how ill-adapted the fort was to the purposes intended. The fragments of the building were afterward removed to the foot of the hill beneath Fort Mackinr.c, and made into a bam, which is yet standing. • 1 V ! 1 ' i ;-y- 1 ..... • V 1 1 1' \ .' ".1 ?ort irk. ces, led. the arn, * * r ARCH ROCK. MACKINAC ISLAND— COVCLUDBD. 133 CHAPTER IX. MACKINAC ISLAND-CONCLUDED. THI^ natural scenery of the island of Mackinac is unsur- passed. Nature seems to have exhausted herself in the clustered objects of interest which every-where meet the eye. The lover of nature may wander through the shaded glens, and climb over the rugged rocks of this island for weeks, and even months, and never grow weary j for each day some new object of beauty and interest will attract his attention. As you approach the island, it appears a perfect gem. A finer subject for an artist's pencil could not be found. In some places it rises almost perpendicularly from the very water's edge to the height of one hundred and fifty feet, while in others the ascent is gradual. Parts of the island are covered with a small growth of hard-wood trees — beech, maple, iron-wood, birch, etc. — while other parts abound in a rich variety of evergreens, among which spruce, arbor-vitae, ground-pine, white-pine, balsam, and juniper predominate. Henry R. Schoolcraft, Esq., who first visited the island in 1820, thus speaks of it: " Nothing can exceed the beauty of this island. Tc is a mass of calcareous rock, rising from the bed of Lake Huron, and reaching an elevation of more than three hundred feet above the water. The waters around are purity itself. Some of its cliffs shoot up perpendicularly, and tower in pinp.acles, like ruinous Gothic steeples. It is cavernous in some places ; and in these caverns the ancient Indians; like those of India, have placed their dead. Portions of the beach are level, and adapted to landing from boats and canoes. The harbor, at its south end, is a little gem. Vessels anchor in it, and find good holding. The 1 J;'^, ,'■ '- Hi El ■'■'ii j ■'1 ! MlU 1 Sill i iiii ■f i 134 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. little, old-fashioned French town nestles around it in a very primitive style. The fort frowns above it, like another Alhambra, its white walls gleaming in the sun. The whole area of the island is one labyrinth of curious little glens and valleys. Old green fields appear, in some spots, which have been formerly cultivated by the Indians. In some of these there are circles of gathered- up stones, as if the Druids themselves had dwelt here. The soil, though rough, is fertile, being the comminuted materials of broken-down limestones. The island was formerly covered with a dense growth of rock-maples, oaks, iron-wood, and other hard- wood species ; and there are still parts of this ancient forest left, but all the southern limits of it exhibit a young growth. There are walks and winding paths among its little hills, and precipices of the most romantic character. And whenever the visitor gets on eminences overlooking the lake, he is transported with sub- lime views of a most illimitable and magnificent water-prospect. If the poetic muses are ever to have a new Parnassus in Amer- ica, they should inevitably fix on Michilimackinac. Hygeia, too, should place her temple here ; for it has one of the purest, driest, clearest, and most healthful atmospheres." The geological aspects of the island are curious and inter- esting. At its base may be seen the rocks of the Onondaga Salt group, above which, says Professor Winchell, State Geol- ogist of Michigan, " the well-characterized limestones of the Upper Helderberg group, to the thickness of two hundred and fifty feet, exist in a confuscully brecciated conditio i. The indi- vidual fragments of the mass are angular, and seem to have been but little moved from their original places. It appears as if the whole formation had been shattered by sudden vibrations and unequal uplifts, and afterward a thin calcareous mud poured over the broken mass, percolating through all the inter- stices, and re-cementing the fragments. " This is the general physical character of the mr^ss j but in many places the original lines of stratification can be traced, and individual layers of the formation can be seen dipping at various angles and in all directions, sometimes exhibiting abrupt n w &; w o !^ H W w w o MACKINAC ISLAND — CONCLUDED. 135 flexures, and not infrequently a complete downthrow of fifteen or twenty feet. These phenomena were particularly noticed at the Cliff known as ' Robinson's Folly.' " In the highest part of the island, back of Old Fort Holmes, the formation is much less brecciated, and exhibits an ooiitic character, as first observed in the township of Bedford, in Monroe County." ... "The island of Mackinac shows the most indubitable evi- dence of the former prevalence of the water to the height of two hundred and fifty feet above the present level of the lake j and there has been an unbroken continuance of the same kind of aqueous action from that time during the gradual subsidence of the waters to their present condition. No break can be de- tected in the evidences of ihis action from the present water- line upward for thirty, fifty, or one hundred feet, and even up to the level of the grottoes excavated in the brecciated materials of ' Sugar-loaf,' the level of ' Skull Cave,' and the ' Devil's Kitchen.' " While we state the fact, however, of the continuity of the action during all this period, it is not intended to allege that the water of the lakes, as such, has ever stood at the level of the summit of Supar-loaf. Nor do we speak upon the question whether these changes have been caused by the subsidence of the lakes, or the uplift of the island and adjacent promontories. It is true that the facts present-^d bear upon these and other interesting questions ; but we must forego any discussion of them." In a private communication to the writer, the author of these extracts states that, in his opinion, there has been some elevation of the island and adjacent regions, but more .subsidence of the water. The island and neighboring promontories were once continuous with each other, the isolation having been effected by denudation; "much of which," says the same eminent author, " was probably effected during tht prevalence of the continental glacial, ani much during the time of floods following, and the action of the sea while the region was submerged." Springs of '"WW 136 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. water, clear and cold, may be found at the base of the high cliffs which bound many parts of the island, and also at other lo- calities in its interior. The geology of the surrounding islands and promontories is much the same as that of this island. With these general ideas, descriptive and geological, we may now proceed to visit the various places of interest. Starting from Fort Mackinac, let us follow the foot-path along the brow of the bluff overlooking the eastern part of the town. If fond of natural scenery, we shall be delighted with the grand panorama of nature, the successive scenes of which will be presented to us as we proceed. Half or three-quarters of a mile from the fort, at the south-eastern angle of the island, is the overhanging cliff known as "Robinson's Folly."* The following is the interesting history of this point : After the removal of the fort to the island, in 1780, Captain Robinson, who then commanded the post, had a Summer-house built upon this cliff. This soon became a place of frequent resort for himself and his brother officers. Pipes, cigars, and wine were called into requisition — for at the time no hospitality or entertainment was complete without them — and thus many an hour, which would otherwise have been lonely and tedious, passed pleasantly away. After a few years, however, by the action of the elements, a portion of this cliff, with the Sum- mer-house, was precipitated to the base of the rock, which disas- trous event gave rise to the name. Around the beach below is a confused mass of dkbris, the remains, doubtless, of the fall. A little to the north of Robinson's Folly may be seen an immense rock standing out boldly from the mountain's side, near the base of which is a very beautiful little arch, known as the " Arch of the Giant's Stairway." This arch is well worth the trouble of a visit. A walk along the beach northward from this point is some- what difficult, on account of the large portions of the cliffs which have in places been precipitated to the water's edge ; but a good foot-path along the brow of the bluff brings us, with See Mao of the Island. llllli wm MACKINAC ISLAND — CONCLUDED. 137 only a few minutes' walk, to the far-famed "At:h Rock." This is one of nature's works which must be seen to bt appre- ciated. Words can not fully describe it in all its grandeur. It is_^ a magnificent natural arch, spanning a chasm of eighty or ninety feet in height, and forty or fifty in width. The summit of this rock is one hundred and forty-nine feet above the level of the lake. Its abutments are com- posed of calcareous rock, and the opening underneath the arch has been produced by the falling down of the great masses of rock now to be seen upon the beach below. A path to the right leads to the brink of the arch, whence the visitor, if sufficiently reckless, may pass to its summit, which is about three feet in width. Here we see twigs of cedar growing out of what appears to be so'id rock, while in the rear and on either hand the lofty emi- nence is clothed with trees and shrubber) — maple, birch, poplar, cedar, and balsam — giving to the landscape richness and variety. Before us are the majestic waters of Lake Huron, dotted in the distance with islands. We may now descend through the great chasm, "arched by the hand of God," and at the base of the projecting ans;le of the main rock find a second arch less mag- luiicea^ but iio less curious and wonderful. Passing under t.Vis, «,^^— ^"^••» Arcli Rock. ;'l '^ m m Ic M ^^v 138 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. we soon reach the beach below, whence the view is particularly grand and imposing. The mighty arch seems suspended in mid air above us ; and as we gaze upon it, lost in wonder and admira- tion, we exclaim with the Psalmist, " Lord, what is man that thou takest knowledge of him, or the son of man that thou makest account of him ?" Foster and Whitney say of this rock " The portion supporting the arch on the north side, and the curve of the arch itself, are comparatively fragile, and can not for a long period resist the action of rains and frosts, which, in this latitude, and on a rock thus constituted, produce great ravages every season. The arch, which on one side now connects this abutment with the main cliff, will soon be destroyed, as well as the abutment itself, and the whole be precipitated into the lake." The following parody on a popular song was found written on a stone near the base of Arch Rock, about five years since : " Beauteous Isle I I sing of thee, Mackinac, my Mackinac ; ' Thy lake-bound shoresj I love to see, Mackinac, my Mackinac, From Arch Rock's height and shelving steep To western cliffs ami Lover's Leap, Where memories of the lost one sleep, Mai^kinac, 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 thee waves. And guards the rest of fallen braves, Their requiem sung by Huron's waves, Mackinac, my Mackinac." Taking the road which leads into the interior of the island, we soon find ourselves at the "Sugar-loaf Rock." This rock is about one hundred and fifty yards from the foot of the high ridge, upon tho south-east extremity of which stands Fort Holmes. The plateau upon which it stands is about one hun> dred and fiily feet above the level of the lake, while the summit MACKINAC island: — CONCLUDED. 139 of the rock is two hundred and eighty-four feet above the lake, giving an elevation of one hundred and thirty-four feet to the rock itself. The composition of this rock is the same as that of Arch Rock. Its shape is conical, and from its crevices grow a few vines and cedars. It is cavernous and somewhat crystalline, with its strata distorted in every conceiv- able direction. In the north side is an opening, sufficient in its dimensions to admit several individuals. Here one might find shelter from the most violent storm. Within this opening, upon the smooth surfaces of the rock, may be found the au- tographs of hundreds of eager aspirants after immor- tality. As we take refuge in this rock, we are reminded of the Rock of Ages, and led to sing, with the poet, — " Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee." As we approach this rock along the road, the effect is grand and imposing. The patriarch of the ages, it lifts its hoary head high up toward heaven, in utter defiance of the fury of the elements. The view is also very fine from the top of the ridge, whence, by its isolated position and bold form, it strikes the beholder with wonder and admiration. The "curious" are ever eager to know by what freak of nature this monstrous bowlder has been placed in its present position. Has it been thrust up through the crust of the earth, like a needle through a garment, by some internal volcanic action? or has it been separated from the adjacent ridge and disentdmbed from its ancient sepulche • by a system of gradual Sugar-loar Rock. .if i OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. denudation carried on by nature through the successive ages of the world's history? Science tells us that the latter hypoth- esis is the true one, Foster and Whitney, in their geological report, mention the Arch and Sugar-loaf Rocks "as particular examples of denuding action," and state that this denuding action, producing such an opening (as i i the Arch), with other attendant phenomena, could only have operated while near the level of a large body of water like the great lake itself. This coincides with the views of Professor Wir^jhell, whom we have already quoted on this point. Traces of water-action now seen on the vertical sides of these two rocks, two hundred feet above the level of the water, are precisely the same as those seen upon the rocks close by the water's edge. To all for.', of natural curiosities, these two rocks alone possess attractions sufficient to justify a visit to the Northern lakes. Let us now return to the fort, whence we started, and again set out in a different direction. Half a mile to the rear of Fort Mackinac, and only a few yards to the right of the road that leads to Early's farm, is " Skull Rock," noted as the place where Alexander Henry was secreted by the Chippewa chief, Wawatam, as related in a previous chapter, after the horrid massacre of the British garrison at Old Mackinac* The en- trance to this cave is at present low and narrow, and promises little to reward the labors of exploration. Two miles west of the village and fort is Early's (formerly Michael Dousman's) farm. This farm consists of a section of land, and produces annually large quantities of hay and vege- tables of the best quality. Near the house now occupied by Mr. Early is that relic of 1812, the old Dousman house, across the road from which is the battle-ground hallowed by the blood f the lamented Holmes and others. After the battle, such igments of the slain as had been left on the field by the Indi- es were gathered up and buried near the east end of the little muuind or ridge on the opposite side of the field from the road. * See page 81. IIACKINAO ISLAND — CONCLUDED. 141 Following the road leading through this farm, we soon arrive at the "British Landing," so named from the fact that Captain Roberts, with his mixed command of English, French, and Indians, here disembarked his forces to take the place in 18 1 2. It is also noted as the point where the American troops under Colonel Croghan effected a landing, under cover of the guns of the American squadron, on the eventful 4th of August, 1814, as already described. Near the north-western point of the island is Scott's or Flinn's Cave. To find this, we turn to the right a few rods this side of British Landing, and follow an unfrequented trail through the woods. A stranger should not attempt this journey with- out a guide. This cave is underneath one of the huge rocks peculiar to Mackinac. Its entrance is extremely low ; .but when once inside, the giant Goliath might stand erect. Those intend- ing to /isit this cave should provide themselves with a lamp or candle, as but an occasional ray of sunlight can penetrate its hidden chamber. While inside this rock-roofed cavern, a peculiar sensation takes possession of you, and you are re- minded of the scene described in ths sixth chapter of Reve- lation, where the kings of the earth and the great men hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the jnountain, and say to the mountains and rocks, " Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb : for the great day of his wrath is come ; and who shall be able to stand?" In the vicinity of this cave are yet standing a few patriarchs of the forest, remnants of the heavy growth of timber which, at an early day, covered the island. Our next tramp will be around the high bluffs which bound the south-western side of the island. Leaving the town at its western extremity, we may follow the foot-path around the brow of these bluffs, or continue along the beach, close to the water's edge. About a mile from the village, as we pursue the latter course, is the "Devil's Kitchen" — a cavernous rock, curious both in its formation and in its name. Near it is a spring rf clear, cold water, shaded by evergreens and other trees. M:.. ^ 142 OLD AND NEW BIACKINAC. 1 A few yards farther on is the famous " Lover's Leap." This rock stands out boldly from the side of the cliff, and in appear- ance is similar to the Sugar-loaf Rock. There are other points on the island to which romantic visitors have applied this name; but tradition has bestowed the title only upon this. William M. Johnson, Esq., formerly a resident of this village, gives us the following legend concerning it : "The huge rock called the 'Lover's Leap' is situated aboui one mile west of the village of Mackinac. It is a high, perpen- dicular bluff, one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet in height, rising boldly from the shore of the lake. A solitary pine-tree formerly stood upon its brow, which some vandal has cut down. " Long before the pale faces profaned this island home of the genii, Me'che'ne'mock'e'nung'o'qua, a young Ojibway girl, just maturing into womanhood, often wandered there, and gazed from its dizzy heights, and witnessed the receding canoes of the large war-parties of the combined bands of the Ojibwas and Ottawas speeding south, seeking for fame and scalps. "It was there she often set, mused, and hummed the songs Ge'niw'e'gwon loved ; this spot was endeared tc her, for it was there that she and Ge'niw'e'gwon first met and exchanged words of love, and found an affinity of soul existing between them. It was there that she often sat and sang the Ojibwa love- song: " ' Mong-e-do-gwain, in-de-nain-dum, Mong-e-do-gwain, in-de-nain-dum, Wain-shung-ish-ween, neen-e-mo-sliane, Wain-shung-ish-ween, neen-e-mo-shane, A-nee-wan-wan-san-bo-a-zode, A-nee-wan-wan-san-bo-a-zode.' " I give but one verse, which may be translated as follows : " ' A loon, I thought, was looming, A loon, I thought, was looming ; Why I it is he, my lover ! Why ! it is he, my lover ! His paddle in the waters gleaming, , , His paddle in the waters gleaming.' MACKINAC ISLAND — CONCLUDED. 143 " From this bluff she often watched and listened for the re- turn of the war-parties ; for amongst them she knew was Ge'- niw'e'gwon, his head decorated with war-eagle plumes, which none but a brave could sport. The west wind often wafted far in advance the shouts of victory and death, as they shouted and sang upon leaving Pe'quod'e'nong (Old Mackinac), to make the traverse to the Spirit or Fairy Island. "One season, when the war-party returned, she could not distinguish his familar and loved war-shout. Her spirit told her that he had gone to the spirit-land of the West. It was so ; an enemy's arrow had pierced his breast, and after his body .as placed leaning against a tree, his face fronting his enemies, he died J but ere he died he wished the mourning warriors to re- member him to the sweet maid of his heart. Thus he died, far away from home and the friends he loved. " Me'che'ne'mock'e'nung'o'qua's heart hushed its beatings, and all the warm emotions of that heart were chilled and dead. The moving, living spirit of her beloved Ge'niw'e'gwon, she wit- nessed continually beckoning her to follow him to the happy hunting-grounds of spirits in the West ; he appeared to her in human shape, but was invisible to others of his tribe. " One morning her body was found mangled at the foot of the bluff. The soul had thrown aside its covering of earth, and had gone to join the spirit of her beloved Ge'niw'e'gwon, to travel together to the land of spirits, realizing the glories and bliss of a future, eternal existence." Some little distance farther on is " Chimney Rock," which Professor Winchell denominates one of the most remarkable masses of rock in this or any other State. A foot-path, which leads from the beach near the base of Lover's Leap to the plateau above, brings us to the old Daven- part farm, now owned by G. S. Hubbard, of Chicago. Report says that several Summer-houses are soon to be built on this farm, which will greatly enhance the beauty of the locality. Adjoining this farm is the Jones farm, once the property of the Presbyterian Mission on the island. Having now made the circuit of the island, let us once 144 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. more ascend to Fort Holmes, take our seats upon the high sta- tion built some years since by the Government engineers, and look around us. The island lies at our feet, and we can see al- most r ery patt of it. The little clearings seen in various places were once gardens cultivated by American soldiers. That in the vicinity of Arch Rock was called the " big garden." In 1812, when the English captured the island, the clearir'^ on the high plateau back of Fort Holmes was planted Wiui pota- toes, and when the Americans came back to take possession of the island in the Spring of 1815, the English, not having culti- vated it during the time, were compelled to plow it up and plant it, that, according to the terms of the treaty, they might leave every thing as they found it. As we gaze upon the adjacent islands and main-land, mem- ory is busy with the scenes of the past. Two hundred and fifty years ago, only bark canoes dotted the surface of the lake. A few years later, the songs of the Canadian voyageur, as he rowed or paddled his large batteau, echoed and re-echoed around the shores. Now the shrill whistle of the propeller is heard, and the white sails of hundreds of vessels are spread to the breezes. The first vessel ever seen on these waters was the Griffin, in 1679 i *"*^ the first steamer was the Walk-in-the- Water, in 1819. It would be difficult to estimate the amount of wealth which is annually carried through these straits. During the season of navigation, from ten to fifty sails may always be seen passing up and down through the straits, and almost every hour in the day from one to ten propellers are in full view. Some four or five miles to the north-west of us lies the mixed Canadian and Indian settlement of Point St. Ignace. This was the second place settled in the State of Michigan, the Sault being the first. At the head of East Moran Bay, some little distance north of the church, is the site of the mission established by Marquette in 167 1, some remains of which may yet be seen. Further north is the bluff called " Rabbit Sitting." North- easterly the St Martin Islands, the entrance to the Chenoux, and the dividing; ridge between this and the Sault St. Maty. On MACKINAC I3LANO — CONCLUDED. »45 the north-east is Point Detour ; and» though thirty miles distant, vessels may sometimes be seen entering St. Mary's River. Round and Bois Blanc Islands lies to th6 south-east of us, be- yond which, at the distance of eighteen miles, is Cheboygan, situated at the mouth of a river of the same name. This place is advantageously located, and is growing rapidly. About seven miles south-west from this island, on the northern apex of the southern peninsula of Michigan, is Mackinac City. W. M. Johnson, Esq., thus speaks of this interesting locality : " Mackinaw City, with its coasts and the islands before it, has been the theater of sdhie of the most exciting and interesting events in Indian history, previous to the arrival of the ' white man.' It was the metropolis of a portion of the Ojibwa and Ottawa nations. It was there that their Congresses met, to adopt- a policy which terminated in the conquest of the country soutn of it ; it was there that the tramping feet of thousands ot plumed and painted warriors shook Pe'quod'e'nong (the Indian name) while dancing their war-dances ; it was from thence that the startling sound of the war-yells of these thousands was wafted to the adjacent coasts and islands, making the peaceful welkin ring with their unearthly shouts of victory or death." With this glance at the surroundings of Mackinac, the fol- lowing table of altitudes will appropriately close the chapter. It is drawn from Professor Winchell's Geological Report for i860 : LOCALITIES. Lake Huron Fort Mackinac Fort Holmes, Robinson's Folly, Bluff facing Round Island Summit of Sugar-loaf, Chimney Rock, Lover's Leap Top of Arch at Arch Rock Highest Summit of Arch Rock, . . . . . Top of Buttress facing Lake at Arch Rock, . Principal Plateau of Mackinac Island, . . Upper Plateau of Mackittac Island, . . . Lake Superior, — Feet Al-.; Lake Huro:i. 318 127 147 284 131 »4S 140 149 los 'SO 294 49 set Above the Sea. 578 728 897 70s US 862 709 ?;i 727 683 728 872 627 f iii! lit t'I ' ,f 146 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. CHAPTER X. MACKINAC AS A HEALTH RBSORT.* MACKINAC, as a health resort, is unsupassed. Its cool air and pure water, together with its natural beauties and historic associations, are just what are needed to bring back the glow of health to the faded cheek, and send the warm currents of life dancing through the system with youthful vigor. In Mackinac, you eat with a new relish, and sleep as when a child. You row, you ramble like boys and girls, scarcely able to keep your buoyancy within bounds. You need to set a double guard about your dignity, lest it escape you entirely. But it is unnecessary for us to bear testimony on this sub- ject, when so many more competent witnesses are at hand. The following letter by Dr. H. R. Mills, A. A. Surgeon U. S. A., shows the philosophy of the health-restoring circum- stances which surround the invalid on this islana: Fort Mackinac, Mich., Afay 2, 1870. Rtv. Jos. A. Van Flttti Dear Sir, — In complying with your request for my views on Mackinac as a resort for invalids, I will be as brief as pos- sible. I have been a resident upon the island during the period of nearly three years, engaged in civil and military practice, and therefore have had something of an opportunity for forming an opinion upon that subject. In the first place, there are two governing ideas in the *The writer had the pleasure of residing on the island for two ytar% durir^ which time the first edition of this little volume was nubl!gh"d. MACKINAC AS A HEALTH RESORT. 147 selection of places of resort for those in ill-health. If possible, that locality should be sought which will most probably be the n.eans of a permanent cure. When such a result is beyond hope, the present comfort of the patient stands next in impor- tance. That place, therefore, which affords the greatest number of health-giving and comfort-giving elements will meet the wants of the largest class. No single locality <::an be expected to meet the wants of all. No land of bliss, where joys are unalloyed, has as yet been discovered. There are certain places adapted to the w^nt« of particular cases. In the selection of these, accurate knowledge and sound judgment should be the constant glides. The hurly-burly, hap-hazard manner in which people post off to some celebrated locality, in search of health, is an illustration of the kind of reasoning almost unconsciously employed by many, who, upon other subjects, are considered sound thinkers: the old doctrine over again, "What's good for one thing must be good for another." Hence the crowds which throng the springs and the wells, all undergoing the same internal and external drenchings, in the endeavor to cure almost as many different diseases as there are people on the grounds. There is undoubtedly much benefit to be derived from the judicious use of water. No one will deny that the springs of the country are the sources of many blessings. Yet many weak, debilitated, half-dead men, women, and children have had the last sparks of vitality drowned out of them, in the blind routine of water-cure; while others, with good constitutions, who only needed a thorough cleansing of the cutaneous surfaces, which they should have had at home, for decency's sake, have returned to the bosom of their families, rejoicing in the wonderful efficacy of the springs. I have no word of condemnation for the springs I do not deny the medicinal qualities of many of them. But the absurdity of the manner in which they are resorted to, without competent advice, and oflen to the actual injury of those fondly seeking a cure, must be obvious to all. Mackinac is available as a place of resurt for health and plesiure at present only in Sunimef ; but the time is not far l> i'l \ ) 148 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. distant when it will be as noted as a resort for invalids in Winter as it is now in Summer. Its position, geographically and hydrographically, is such as to render the temperature at all seasons of the year moderate and uniform. This is tlie first and most important in the list of health-restoring and health-preserving influences to be enumer- ated in connection with chis place. This is the central fact, around which all the others arrange themselves. It is in the mildness and uniformity of its temperature that the superiority of Mackinac as a place of resort consists. It is this that causes thousands to come here annually to spend the " heated term." This is well shown by an examination of the following table : DEGREES OF MEAN, MONTHLY, AND EXTKKMK TEMPEKAIURK, FOR A SERIES OK YEARS.* LOCALITY. Mackinac Itlaiid, Mich Montreal Albany, N Y Umnha, Neb ChicaHO Deiriiit Philndelpliia. I'enn Cincinnati, (> St. Haul, Minn St. Limia, Mu a.-* ii.e- 4857 53'* bojbg 5'''M J6IM> hi 7. 6*74 65 6< 70 M) 7a 70 ?(• 75 71 (X) 7068 75 73 74,73 73|7''| 79 77 60I48 64I54 F z u 90 102 99 106 100 108 By this table it will be seen that the extremes of heat and cold are not only not as ; -iit in Mackinac as in other places east and west on the same parallel, but even in places much farther south. At Montreal, during the time embraced in the table, the mercury has been as low as 36 degrees below zero, and as high as 103 above. At St. Paul, on nearly the same parallel, the greatest degree of cold designated is 37 degrees below zero, and of h^at, 100 above. At St. Louis, hundreds of miles farther • "Clinatology of United States," by Lorin Blodget. 1857. MACKINAC AS A HEALTH RESORT. 149 south, the table shows that the mercury has been as low as 25 degrees below zero, and as high as 108 above. By looking at the figures opposite Mackinac, it will be seen that 23 degrees below zero is the lowest, and 90 above the highest mark of the mercury. During my residence here, however, the mercury has but once been as low as 19 degrees below zero. This was during the Winter of 1867 and 1868. During the Winter of 1868 and 1869, 16 degrees below zero was the coldest. During the * past Winter, 13 degrees below occurred but once. Why this dilTerence in favor of Mackinac ? In my opinion, it is owing principally to the influence of the large bodies of water which surround it ; Lake Superior on the north-west, Huron on the east and south, and Michigan on the south and west. By a well-known law in physics, heat is absorbed or rendered latent in the passage of any substance from the solid to the Huid and front the Huid to the gaseous states ; and con- versely, heat is given out or rendered sensible in the passage of any substance from the gaseous to the fluid, and from the fluid to the solid states. To illustrate : Take a single pound of ice. The thermometer shows its temperature to be 3a degrees Fah- renheit. Now, if just enough heat be applied to this pound of ice to change it from the solid to the fluid state, and the temper- ature of the water thus produced is inunediately tested, it will be found to be only 32 degrees ¥., the same as found in testing the temperature of the ice before the application of heat. Here has been an expenditure of heat in the process of liquefaction. By accurate measurement it has been found that 140 degrees of heat are necessary for this change from ice to water. If, again, heat is .ipplied to this water, the temperature will continue to rise until it reaches 213 degrees, the ordinary boiling point of water. But all attempts to hc;it this water above that point will be in vain. Why? Because heat is necessary for the transfor- mation of water into steam, and every degree of heal which is now added will be consumed, or rendered latent in this process. The reverse process is naturally attended by the opposite result. Hence die philosophy of the warming of buildings by steam. L,.. III!, » I 1 1 ISO OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. Wherever the steam comes in contact with objects sufficiently cold to reduce it to a lower degiee than 212, it immediately becomes condensed into water, giving out its surplus heat. The same is true in the transformation of v.ater into ice. In Summer, the evaporating surface of these lakes is very extensive, and the influence on the climate at Mackinac, and places thus centrally located, is, as a consequence, very g^eat. The amount of water which escapes into the air as vapor, in a single Summer day, from the surface '>f these la'^.es, would astonish one who has not accurate information upon this subject. Of a necessity, the amount of heat drawn from the surround- ing atmosphere will correspond. In Winter, in accordance with this law, the changing of vapors into water, and water into ice, operates in the opposite direction, and heat is given out or rendered sensible. Thus these immense bodies of water become the regulators of the climate, both in Summer and Winter. Not only are great extremes of heat and cold thus prevented, but also the sudden daily changes which occur in many other places, to the great discomfort and injury of all, and especially the invalid. Growing out of its position and resulting temperature is another important item in the consideration of Mackinac as a health resort ; that is, the purify and buoyancy of the atmosphere. The amount of heat is insufficient for the extensive production of rnia.sniatic, disease-generating exhalations, which are so destruc- tive in warmer c'imates. Even if this were not the cast, the absence of swamp- and marshes and disgusting cesspools suffi- ciently insures atmospheric purity. The amount of oxygen in a given me.isure of ai!; as compared with that in warmer climates, accounts, in pari at least, for its buoyant, exhilarating eflfects. Thus, in consequence of the mild, uniform temperature, the atmosphere in Summer is cool and .igreeable, free from float- ing poisons, and well stocked with life and health-giving principles. The water, though containing considerable lime, is free from MACKINAC AS A HEALTH RESORT. ISI noxious impurities. The pebbles on the bottom of the lake can be seen when the lake is still, on a fair day, at the depth of many feet. Its average temperature is about 42 degrees. In favorable localities, however, where it is shallow, and the rays of the sun are direct upon it, the temperature is raised sufficiently for pleasant bathing. In a medical point of view, these lakes furnish a very important article of food — trout and white fish. Nothing is better calculated to meet the wants of overtaxed brains and nerves. As a Summer resort it is probably unsurpassed. It is easily accessible by short and pleasant water-routes, and the influences which cluster around the lovely spot are adapted equally well to the treatment of the infirmities of the mind and body. A cheerful, hopeful state of mind is of the greatest importance in the treatment of disease. This once established, the physician can begin to feel that his efforts may be of some avail ; but otherwise, remedies and advice alike are useless. The view of the island at a distance, if approached on a pleasant day, either from Lake Huron or Lake Michigan, is highly pleasing, especially to those from the crowded city or the interior of the country. The valetudinarian is inclined to forget his maladies in his admiration of the beauty of the picture before him. And the first impressions are not only confirmed by a sojourn upon the island, but new pleasures, and new sources of amusement and recreation, are constantly springing up to engage the attention. The views which car easily be obtained from varit is points, and of which one never tires, are unsurpassed in beauty and loveliness. No pen can adequately describe them. Again, the shady walks and beautiful drives which radiate from the villaf- 'j various points of natural and historical interest, are the sources of much enjf ment. When rock and cave and battle-field, and other objects of interest, have received their share of time and attention, and a change is desired, the Mackinac bonts — famous for the fact that never was serious accident known to occur to one of them, when handled by Maclcinac men — lie waiting near the beach ready for «5a 1 1 OLD AND NEW MA<"KINAC. an excursion upon th«.: lake. RciT.d Island, Bois Blanc, Mack inac City (Old Mackinac), Point St. Ignace, and many other places of interest, are within a few hours' sail. Overcoat and gloves for gentlemen, and shawls for ladies, should bt the in variable companions, no matter how warm and ph asant the day ; for wmds are fickle, and the hour of return unceria'n A basiict of < dibles will sometimes meet an unexpected demand. Gun and iSshing-tackle will add to the interest of the Cv ;asion^ especially if the trip extends into the auck and brook-trout regions, li exerc'sc of -he muscle as well as diversion of mind i& desired, and this ^. vi he I'hy conbination, a supply of skiffs is ever nir!.. But those who wish to make more ex- tended or nioro rapid voyages can avaii themselves of the small steamers whicik belong in this locality. Some have complained of the mosq :i'oes and black flies in their sallies to the main- land, but it is >riid that the odor of carbolic acid removes this annoyance. Fiom my experience in the use of the article in hospital practice, I am inclined to think this will accomplish the purpose. These are some of the favorable circumstances which sur- round the invalid at Mackinac. It v.'il! be seen at once that they take a wide range in their therapeutic application. I have gtcat confidence in medicines, fimg/y and judiciously adminis- tered. But in very many, especially chronic cases, I have still greater confidence in the efficacy of these hygienic agencies. It would be far from rational, however, to discard either. The combinntion of the two, in accordance with the necessides of c-ach case, will be followed by the happiest results. Science arid practice alone are competent to decide the proportion ot each required. One will now almost instinctively come to something of v conclusion as to the rlasr , cases to which this plact: v- b -« adapted. In fact, the hys^^ influences are so varied ; ■:„.:.*- MACKINAC AJ A HEALTH RESORT. 153 acter, so extensive in range, that there is very little liability to mistake. During my residence htre, very few invalids have come under my notice who have not received more or less benefit before their departure. Instead, therefore, of attempting to enumerate the diseases or conditions to the treatment of which this place is favorable, it will take much less time to des ignate those to which a sojourn here is thought to be unfavorable. It is perhaps unnecessary to say that in all acute cases of inflammation, the patient should remain at home until the crisis is passed. When the stage of debility comes on, how- ever, Mackinac may prove highly beneficial in promoting a rapid recovery. I would advise no one who is thought to be rapidly ap- proaching dissolution, to think of coming here as a last resort. The unavoidable fatigue and exposure incident to the journey will greatly overbalance all the good results to be hoped for. Home, quiet, peaceful home, is the place fur such. Those in the last stages of consumption are not usually benefited. Invalids of this class seem to think the air " too strong " for their " weak lungs," to use their own terms. The somewhat increased moisture of the atmosphere, over that of places inland, is also supposed to act unfavorably. Those suffering from asthma are in some instances rendered more comfortable, and in others less. It is itt^possible to say what the elfecc will be until the trial is made. Rheumati-sm is not usually a severe disease here ; but it is perhaps more frequent than any other. Intermittent, remittent, and typhoid fever are very seldom, if ever, known to originate here ; but occasionally those coming from miasmatic 'listricts, upon their arrival show symptoms of these (?i'iOfdcrs, in i\ mild form. They come charged with a pcbon, and the t«ar?;e is tne occasion of its working off. This U usually soon over w.th, however, and no more fever and ague is heard of until a new stock of Ite m^lari:;! poisi-:' is obtained outside. This was quite forcibly illustrated in the cases of several soldiers now stationed at this post. This company Vv 154 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. arrived here from New Orleans in May, 1869. During the tlire^ montlis following, there were several cases of intermittent f^ver. But, in every instance, these cases were easily controlled in two or three days, and relapses were very unusual. I have not seen a well-marked case of typhoid fever on the island. In most chronic diseases, this locality usually proves highly beneficial. The supporting of the vital powers is one great object to be aimed at in the treatment of all cases — especially chronic. I am not one of those, however, who, in their blind adoration of " Supporting Treatment" forget the specific disease, the cause perhaps of the whole difficulty, and neglect iis treat- ment when it is possible to reach it. The two must go hand in hand. There are general remedies which apply to almost all cases ; at the same time each case requires additional specific treatment, according to character of the specific disease, age, sex, temperament, and a thousand other circumstances which go to make up the case. As the science of the practice of medi- cine advances, the great and, until recently, quite unrecognized truth, stands forth in more glowing light, that cases are to be treated and not diseases alone. The disease is only a part, often a small part, of what goes to make up the case. Medication, therefore, though it properly holds a secondary therapeutic re- lation as compared with general hygienic measures, is none the less important. Both are essential. In recommending this place to invalids, I would refer espe- cially to that large class of cases which comes under the head of general debility. It is unnecessary to go into extensive speci- fications. They are at once recognized in men, women, and children, by a weakly, sickly appearance, low vital powers, feeble pulse, coated tongue, pale or sallow skin, want of appetite, the functions of the various organs of the body inadequately performed, and various other unhealthy conditions. No better place can be found for sickly chlorotic girls and puny boys ; worn-out men and women, whether suffering from overworked brain or muscle. No better place can be found for those inclined MACKINAC AS A HEALTH RESORT. 155 to hypochondriacy. A change from the tiresome sameness of home scenes can not fail to do good. Those cases of consumption which are not far advanced are often greatly benefited. Bowel-complaints seldom prevail. Hence, this is a good place for infants and children during the hot Summer months. It is not necessary to continue the enumeration. I have attempted thus hastily to put for.h some general ideas which might serve as guides to those of your readers who may have occasion to avail themselves of a resort for health or pleasure. I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, H. R. Mills, M. D., Post Surgeon. The following extracts are from the pen of Daniel Drake, M. D., who, in a professional capacity, visited the island in 1842. In his " Discourses on Northern Lakes and Southern Invalids," we find the following : " When the south-west winds, which have traversed the vast plains separating the Gulf of Mexico from the Lakes, reach the shores of the latter, they are necessarily dry and hot. Hence, the temperature of Buffalo, Erie, Cleveland, Sandusky, Toledo, Detroit,, and Chicago, in the average latitude 0/ 42, is quite as great as their position should experience — greater, perhaps, than the traveler from Louisiana or Carolina would expect. But the duration of these winds is at no time very long, and whenever they change to any point of the compass north or west, ^h«-._ bring down a fresh and cool atmosphere to revive the consti- tutions of all whom they had wilted down. These breathings from the north descend from the highlands around Lake Su- perior, which are nearly as elevated above the sea as the mountains of Pennsylvania, and stretch off beyond the sources of the ft I' ppi to the Rocky Mountains. In passing over that lake, wt n Michigan and Huron immediately south of it, the temperature of which, in Summer, as we have already seen, is i \\ 156 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. less than 60 degrees, lho?o '.vind.-. -uffer little increase of heat, and become so charppv.' with iuoi: ure from the extended watery surface as to exert on the feehngs of the people along the south- ern shores of Erie and Michigan a most refreshing influence. " From the hour that the voyager enters Lake Huron, at the head of St. Clair River, or Michigan, at Chicago, he ceases, however, to feei the need of such breeze T o..! mc r.orth- wast ; for the latitude which he has then attained, in connection with the great extent of the deep waters, secures to him an invigorating atmosph.v c, even while Summer rages with a withering energy in the Soutl; . The axis of each of these lakes is nearly in the . meridian, aiid every turn made by the wheels of his boat carries him farther into the temperate and genial climate of the upper lakes. Entering it by either of the portals just mentioned, he soon passes the ktitude of 44 degrees, and has then escaped from the region of miasmas, mosquitoes, congestive fevers, calomel, intermittents, agtu cakes, liver-diseases, Jaundice, cholera-morbus, dyspepsia, blue devils, and duns ! — on the whole of which he looks back with gay indifference, if not a feeling of good- natured CONTEMPT. " Every-where on the shores of the Lakes, from Ontario to Superior, if the general atmosphere h& calm and clear, there is, in Summer, a refreshing lake and land breeze : the former com- mencing in the forenoon, and, with acapricii us temper, continu- ing most of the day; iv latte- setting i, it night, after the radiation from the ground has reduced its heat below that of the water. These breezes are highly acceptable to the ^'oyager while in the lower lake region, and by no r ^ ms to be despised after he resiche . the upper. " But the Summer climate of the LaV^^s is t the only source of benefit to invalids, for the agitai! impa led by the boat on voyages of several days' durati( , inroi ii waters which are never stagnant and sometimes rolllag, will be found among thi" 'nost efficient means of restoring health in many chronic diseases, especially those of a nervous character, such as hysteria and hypochondriacism. MACKINAC AS A HEALTH RESORT. 157 "Another source of benefit is the excitement imparted by the voyage, to the faculty of observation. At a watering-place all the features of the surrounding scenery are soon familiarized to the eye, which then merely wanders over the commingled throngs of valetudinarians, doctors, dancers, idlers, gamblers, coquettes, and dandies, whencv"> it soon returns to inspect the nfirmities or tedium vita of its possessor; but on protracted voyages through new and fresh regions, curiosity is stirred up to the highest pitch, and pleasantly gratified by the hourly unfolding of fresh aspects of nature — some new blending of land and lake; a group of islands different from the last ; aquatic fields ol wild-rice and lilies; a rain ow walking on the 'face of the deep ;' a water-spout, or a shifting series of painted clouds seen in the kaleidoscope of heaven. " But the North has attractions of a different kind, which should draw into its Summer bosom those who seek health and recreation in travel. From Ontario to Michigan, the voyager passes uic midst of spots consecrated to the heart of every Americ ,..1, and deeply interesting to ail who delight to study the history of their native land. The shores and waters of the i^akes, so often reddened with the blood of those who fought and died in 'le cause of their country, will present to the traveler of warm patriotic feelings, scenes which he can not behold without emotion, under which real diseases may abate, and the imaginary be forgotten." After briefly alluding to the mixed French and Indian pop- ulation around the head of the Lakes, he thus continues : " But a different inhabitant, of more interest than either to the dyspeptic and the gourmand, is the celebrated white-rish, which deserves to be called by its classical name, Coregonus albusy which, liberally translated, signifies food of the nymphs. Its flesh, which is in the < Id and clear waters of the lake organ- ized and imbued with life, is liable but to this objection, — that he who tastes it once will thenceforth be unable to relish that of any other fish. *' The island of Mackinac is the last, and, of the whole, the 158 OLD AHD NEW MACKINAC. most important Summer residence to which we can direct the at tention of the infirm and the fashionable. True it has no min- eral springs, but living streams of pure water, cooled down to the temperature of 44 degrees, gushing from its lime-rock precipices, and an atmosphere never sultry or malarious, supersedes all necessity for nauseating solutions of iron, sulphur, and epsom salts. An ague, contracted below, has been known to cease even before the patient had set his foot on the island, as a bad cold evaporates under the warm sun in a voyage to Cuba. Its rocky, though not infertile, surface, presents but few decom- posable matters, and its Summer heats are never great enough to convert those few into miasms. " Situated in the western extremity of Huron, within view of the straits which connect that lake with Michigan, and almost in sight, if forest did not interpose, of the portals of Lake Su- perior, this celebrated island has long been, as it must continue to be, the capital of the upper lakes. The steamboats which visit the rapids of the St. Mary and Green Bay, not less than the daily line from Buffalo to Milwaukee and Chicago, are found in its harbor ; and the time can not be remote when a small packet will ply regularly between it and the first. By these boats, the luxuries of the South, brought fresh and succulent as when first gathered, are supplied every day. But the potatoes of this island, rivaling those of the banks of the Shannon, and the white-fish and trout of the surrounding waters, yielding only to those of Lake Superior, render all foreign delicacies super- fluous. We must caution the gourmand, however, against the excessive use of trout {Saltno amethystes), which are said to produce drowsiness ; for he who visits Mackinac should sleep but little, lest some scene of interest should pass away unobserved." The same author, in his " Diseases of the Mississippi Valley," thus alludes to Mackinac : " The three great reservoirs of clear and cold water — Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior, with the island of Mackinac in their hydrographical center — offer a delightful hot weather asy- lum *'* 9X\ invalids who need an escape from crowded cities, ICACKINAC AS A HEALTH RESORT. 159 paludal exhalations, sultry climates, and officious medication. Lake Erie lies too far south, and is bordered with too many swamps, to be included in the salutiferous group. The voyage from Buffalo, Cleveland, or Sandusky, on that lake, or from Chicago or Milwaukee, on Lake Michigan, may afford, should the water be agitated, all the benefits of sea-sickness, without its tedious prolongation. On reaching Mackinac an agreeable change of climate is at once experienced, and the bodily feeling is heightened by the emotions which the evidence and con- sciousness of having retreated upon an island raise in the mind of one who has not before enjoyed the novelty of an insular life. To his jaded sensibilities all around him is fresh and re- freshing; a feeling of security comes over him, and when, from the rocky battlements of Fort Mackinac, he looks down upon the surrounding waters, they seem a moat of defense against the host of annoyances from which he had sought a refuge. Thus the curative state of mind begins to act on his body from the moment of his landing, and, if he be a person of intelligence and taste, this salutary mental excitement will not soon die away ; for the historic associations, not less than the scenery of this island, are well fitted to maintain it. " From the summit of the island the eyes rests upon a num- ber of spots consecrated to military history. But the natural scenery is still better fitted to make the invalid forget his ailments. Several agreeable and exciting boat-voyages may be made to the neighboring coasts, from each of which a new aspect may be had, and the island itself, although but nine miles in circuit, affords opportunities for a great variety of rambling on foot. In these excursions he may ascend to the apex of the island, once the site of a fort. From this summit, elevated far above all that surrounds it, the panorama is such as would justify the epithet to Mackinac — Queen cf the Isles. To the west are the in- dented shores of the upper peninsula of Michigan ; to the south, those of the lower, presenting in the interior a distant and smoky line of elevated table-land ; up the straits, green islets may be seen peeping above the waters ; directly in front of the harbor, vt. i6o OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. Round Island forms a beautiful foreground, while tb'; larger, Bois Blanc, with its light-house, stretches off to th£ east; and to the north are other islands at varying distances, which complete the archipelago. " When the observer directs his eyes upon the waters more than the land, and the day is fair, with moderate wind, he finds the surface as variable in its tints as if clothed in a robe of changeable silk. Green and blue are the governing hues, but they flow into each other with such facility and frequency, that while still contemplating a particular spot, it seems, as if by magic, transformed into another. But these midday beauties vanish before those of the setting sun, when the boundless hori- zon of lake and land seems girt around with a fiery zone of clouds, and the brilliant drapery of the skies paints itself upon the surface of the waters. Brief as they are beautiful, these evening glories, like spirits of the air, quickly pass away, and the gay mantle of night warns the b'iholder to depart for the village while he may yet make his way along a narrow and rocky path, beset with tufts of prickly juniper. Having refreshed himself for an hour, he may stroll out upon the beach and listen to the serenade of the waters. Wave after wave will break at his feet over the white pebbles, and return as limpid as it came. Up *■':? straits, he will see the evening star dancing on the ruffled surf i- , and the loose sails of the lagging schooner flapping in the ntful land-breeze, while the milky way— Death's Path of the red man — will dimly appear in the waters before him 1" The following extracts are just to the point, and will meet with a hearty response from the thousands who have experienced similar sensations in visiting Mackinac : " Mackinaw, Mich., August j, 1856. . . . "Yours of July 20th has been forwarded to me at this place, whither I have come in search of the fugitive, health — at least, to escape from the debilitations of our Summer heats. I wish you wtre here ! It is a fortnight to-day since we arrived, and such paradisiacal weather as we have had I just MACKINAC AS A HEALTH RESORT. Idl warm enough not to be cold, and just cold enough not to be warm. Only one thing is wanting to me, and I should thrive like a green bay tree ; and that is the home diet. " Last night we had some commotion among the elements, and to-day it is cloudy, and a fire is comfortable. But a few whiffs of this air would make your lungs give a hygienic laugh. I am sorry to hear there are any symptoms in your throat or elsewhere which give you present discomfort or forebodings. I am afraid of that Eastern climate for your lungs. I do not believe that air will ever agree with you. It requires a Boreas to blow it, and none but a Boreas can breathe it. . . . ' "Horace Mann." " Mackinaw, Mich., August 6, 1857. . . . "Here we all are at Mackinaw, and enjoying our- selves too well not to tell you about it, and to wish you were here with us. The climate, the air, etc., perform the promise made last year ; and, as all the family are with me, I enjoy vastly more than I did last year. I never breathed such air before j and this must be some that was clear out of EdeP; and did not get cursed. I sleep every night under sheet, blanket, and cov- erlet, and no day is too warm for smart walking and vigorous bowling. The children are crazy with animal spirits, and eat in such a way as to demonstrate the epigastri: paradox that the quantity contained may be greater than the container. I verily believe if you would spend one Summer here — say from about the middle of July to the middle of September — it would mi.ke your brain as good as Samuel Downer's brain ever was since it occupied its present cranium ; and that is saying a great deal. . . . Horace Mann." II t' \ I i 163 OLD AND NEW MACK!NAC. I / CHAPTER XL MACKINAC CITY. THE Straits of Mackinac, as we have seen, have been the theater of interesting and exciting events from the ear- liest times down to the present. While the whole southern por- tion of the State was yet a wilderness which no white man had ever penetrated, Mackinac was the home of the missionary, the trader, and the soldier, and the center of a valuable and fast increasing traffic with the Indians of the North-west. And it was from Mackinac, as a center, that colonization spread through the surrounding country. Detroit was settled in 1701, by Cadillac, who for several years had commanded at Mackinac. The history of Wisconsin and Minnesota, as well as other North-western Sta'.es, must begin with a notice of this point, because the earliest settlers of these States started out from Mackinac, and the period is yet within the memory of many now living on this island when Chicago came to Mackinac for supplies. These are significant facts. The early Jesuits and traders fixed upon Mackinac as a basis of their missionary and com- mercial operations, not by mere chance, but because of its natural advantages. Mackinac is a historical center because it is a geographical and commercial center. Nature alone has given it its advantages, and made it what it has been in history. For a series of years, however, its natural advantages seemed to be overlooked, and the surging wave of population rolled across Southern Michigan, and so on to the westward. Yet it has never been quite forgotten, and at the present time we believe it to be gradually rising into favor, owing to the MACKINAC CITY. 163 fact that it is better known and better appreciated than ever before. But we do not propose to enter into any elaborate discus- sion of its merits. We wish simply to set forth a few facts relative to an enterprise just now attracting some att Ltion. Ferris, in his "States and Territories of the Great West,' makes the following mention of the straits : " If one were to point out on the map of North America a site for a great cen- tral city in the lake region, it would be in the immediate vicin- ity OF THE Straits of Michilimackinac. A city so located would have the command of the mineral trade, the fisheries, the furs, and the lumber of the entire North. It might become the metropolis of a great commercial empire. It would be the Venice of the Lakes." In 1853, Mr. Edgar Conkling, then of Cincinnati, with something of the same appreciation of this point, secured a large tract of land on the south side of the straits. In 1857-58, he surveyed the city site; but the financial revulsion at that time, and the war which soon followed, pre- vented further operations until the present. During the past Winter a good dock has been constructed, and preparations are fast being made to build up the new city. The streets, a", surveyed, are eighty feet in width, anu the avenues one hun- dred and one hundred and fifty feet, respectively, and are to be forever unobstructed by improvements of any kind, shade- trees alone excepted. The lots, with the exception of those in fractional blocks, are fifty by one imndred and fifty feet. Old Mnckinac Point, where may still be seen the ruins of the old " Fort Michilimackinac," has been reserved for a park. It is now in a state of nature, but in this instance nalure has done more, unassisted by art, than is often accomplished by both combined. A richer and more beautiful variety of ever- greens can nowhere be found than hcvc, and "when the skillful hand of the horticulturist has marked its outlines and threaded It with avenues and foot-paths, pruned its trees and carpeted ts surface with green, it will present the very perfection of all that constitutes a park delightful," Suitable blocks and lots iillill ffllM v. u 164 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. for county and city buildings, school-houses, churches, and institutions of learning and charity, will be donated for their respective purposes whenever the proper authorities are pre- pared to select suitable sites. There are three good harbors on the east, north, and west sides of the city, respectively. The soil is sandy, and the land sufficiently elevated above the level of the water to warrant an entire absence of mud forever. " There are no marshes, no tide-covered sands, no flood-washed banks, no narrow and isolated rocks or ridges, to intercept the progress of commercial growth and activity. On the contrary, the lake rises under the heaviest rains but little, and breaks its waves on a dry shore raised far above its level." At a comparatively recent date, large additions have been n:ade to this property; so that now the real estate interests of the enterprise cover an area of about thirty-five thousand acres, seven thousand of which lie on the north side, upon the upper peninsula. Much of this land abounds in the elements of wealth and prosperity. There may be found peat and hard- wood suitable for smelting and manufacturing iron and copper, gypsum in abundance, " stone for water-lime, building-stone, and building-lime," while all geologists agree that the salt formation underneath its surface will richly reward all who turn their attention to the manufacture of that indispensable article. The policy of the proprietor of this enterprise is at once liberal and enlightened. Every legal measure will be taken to exclude forever the sale of alcohol as a beverage, thus insuring the future inhabitants freedom from midnight brawls and drunken revels. The public wants are to be liberally provided for, and the whole property finally devoted to the building up and erdowment of a '^grand, national, unscctarian, Christian UNIVERSITY," and will be placed in the hands of responsible trustees whenever the public is ready to make the enterprise its own. Such are the facts as they have been communicated to us. The idea of a university at the straits may strike some as premature and uncalled for : but two considerations are alone MACKINAC CITY. i6s more than sufficient to justify an immediate advance in that direction. First, the health of this region is such as to insure the highest success of such an institution. The isothermal line of Mackinac is that which has proved the most favorable, both in Europe and America, for intellectual development. This all-important and only truly fundamental idea of health is too often forgotten in the location of institutions of learning; and, as a consequence, the mind is frequently devel- oped only at the expense of the body. Men become intel- lectual giants and physical pigmies at one and the same time. But the invigorating atmosphere of Mackinac City will do for the physical part just what a thorough university course will do for the mental, and thus a symmetrical and perfect devel- opment will be secured. The facts elucidated in the previous chapter will prove this. The health of Mackinac is not disputed. A second fact we regard as equally indisputable : a few years will people North- ern Michigan and the unoccupied territory of the North-west with tens of thousands, who will need just such an institution as the one proposed. And, besides this " coming population," hundreds of the sons and daughters of our more Southern and much less healthful cities and towns will be but too glad to re- sort to the even-tempered Mackinac to secure an education, whenever the pioper facilities for that purpose are afforded. That the public attention is already turning this way is too evident to need proof The " Northern Pacific" is no longer a mooted question, but is actually in process of construction, with a fair prospect of making the straits its eastern terminus ; while several roads from the more southern cities of this and other States are even now hastening toward Mackinac to claim a share of the spoils. The day is not far in the future when Mackinac will be a railroad center, as it is by nature a commer- cial center, and these roads will all lay their laurels at the feet of the new city and rising university. As to the prospects of Mackinac City and the wealth of the surrounding country, which must eventually concentrate here, * >l i66 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. the following extracts are in point. They are from £. D. Mansfield's Review of " Old Mackinaw," by Strickland, as pub- lished in the Methodist Quarterly Revieiv for June, 1861 : •'Whoever looks upon the map of North America will be struck with the singular conformation of both land and water round the Straits of Mackinaw. There is scarcely any thing in American geography more remarkable. The vast expanse of Atacfican lakes, flowing through more than two thousand miles, and covering more than one hundred thousand square mile i of water surface, seems here to concentrate, and the three great 'ike?. Superior, Huron, and Michigan (to speak metaphorically) lay then heads together, as if to consider some notable point. Frvr •. •> the north-west of the straits stretches Lake Superior, with its clear wat'.rs and its pictured rocks. Far to the -,outh lies Lake Michigan, with its long arm at Green Bay ; while to the south-east stretch the dark waters of Huron, with its Manitou Islands and Georgian Sea. But vast as are these in- land seas, they here meet together. Superior forms its waters througn .he Sault of St. Mary ; Michigan rolls through the Straits of Mackinaw ; and the magnificent Huron comes up to meet them. That a point so remarkable by nature should be- come equally so in the growth of a young and rising empire, seems to be a necessar)' inference from these facts. There are but few points on the earth which present such striking advantages for the pursuits of commerce. If we look upon the map of the globe, we shall find, perhaps, only lour or five which have similar features. The S'.raits of Gibraltar, separating Europe from Africa ; Constantinople, on the Bosphorus ; Singapore, on the Straits of Malacca ; and the Isthmus of Panama, are ti.e only ones which now strike us as presenting a parallel. Singa- pore has rapidly concentrated A:;i itic navigation, and more various people may ue found there than r.t any ocean point. Panama is rising to commercial importance with equal rapidity, while Gibraltar and Constantinople are wcM-rpnowned for the value of their positions. Mackinaw presents nearly the same features. Not only do great inland seas he/e meet together, but r-:i'. MACKINAC CITY. 167 on every side of these waters press down great districts of laud, rich, variouH, and abundant in tiieir resources. On the north lies the peninsula of Canada, which, .ilthough long regarded as barren and inho^. ;)itable, has been recently proved a country of good soil, abundant water, and mild climate. To the south is the peninsula of Michigan, now fast filling up with a thrifty American population. 'I'o the west is the great mining region, where copper and iron seem inexhaustible. Thus nature seems to have made this place as rich in the materials as in the chan- nels of commerce. Nor has she placed any barriers in the way of its future growth. Constantinople has its plague, and Panama its fevers ; but Mackinaw, grand in its scenery, and opulent in its resources, is equally salubrious in its climate, and inviting to the seekers for health, pleasure, and repose. . . . " Looking, now, to the commercial and industrial development of that region, we find still more extraordinary results. At- tached to the State of Michigan is the penninsula, which is in- closed between the Straits of Mackinaw, Lake Michigan, and Lake Superior. For two centuries after the settlement of New England and New York, the wild, unfrequentfd, unknown shores of Lake Superior were unsuspected of any other capacity for production than those of the forest and the lake. It is only since 1846 that its immense beds of iron and copper were dis- covered, and only within the last ten years that that region has exhibited a wealth of mineral production which the world can scarcely parallel on an equal space. No sooner were the facts known than copper companies (and since iron companies) began to be formed with the celerity and energy of an excited specu- lation. Capital was found in the great cities ready to be in- vested in such enterprises, laborers flocked thither, mines were opened ; and now we have immense bodies of copper annually transported to Boston, Pitt.sburg, Cleveland, and other places, to be smelted. In 1858, the copper ore exported from points in the peninsula was six thousand tons, which yielded four thousand tons of pure copper, worth two millions of dollars. When we consider that this is one-third the amount of copper produced by i68 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. Great Britain, and one-seventh of the whole amount produced out of America, we can understand the value of these mines, which have scarcely been opened ten years. " In the same region, and above the Sault of St. Mary, are iron mines equally extraordinary. The United States has in various sections immense deposits of iron. But in all the basins of the lakes, there is nothing comparable to this. I.i the vicinity of Marquette, a flourishing port of Lake Superior, iron hills rise from six to seven ' jndred feet in height, which are a solid mass of iron ore. When smelted in the furnace, they yield more than half in pure iron of a superior quality, which is in demand at all the manufacturing towns of the East. " In the meanwhile the resources of the country which were obvious to the eye were naturally sought and developed by a different class of i)ersons. The fisheries yielded the finest fish in exhaustless quantities ; and from Sandusky Bay, in Ohio, to Superior City, in the wild North-west, the lake salmon and the Mackinaw trout are transported, like the oysters of the Atlantic, to gratify the epicuiean palate, in town and city. These fisheries have no,, risen to great importance. They are sup- posed to exceed in product the whole of the other fresh-water fisheries in the United States. At this time, about one hundred thousand barrels of fish are freighted, and the annual value of the fisheries amounts to a million of dollars. " No sooner had civilization penetrated the wilderness of Lake Superior than another product came into immediate de- mand. Far as the eye could cast its searching glance, or the traveler penetrate the dark forests of Michigan, of Wisconsin, or of Canada, there rose the tall, slim trunks, and deep-green foliage of the pine. Here was iraterial in which the people south and west were deficient. The pines of the Alleghany and the Susquehanna had begun to diminish. Their stock would soon be gone, while here stretched away hundreds and thousands of miles of pine-forest. Very soon, as the settlements began to increase in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, powerful steam- engines wer;; erected on the Saginaw, the Sable, Traverse Bay, MACKINAC CITY. l59 La Crosse River, St. Peter's, and throughout the pine region, creating nt once an i,. «l ^nse trade in pine lumber. The great center of the pineries at this time is in the lower peninsula of Michigan, south of Old Mackinaw. This lumber region is one of the wonders of our country, and it is supposed that Michigan is the greatest lumber region of the world. Here are not only interminable forests of choice pine, but water outlets on every side. At the northern extremity are the Straits of Mackinaw ; at the east, Saginaw and Sable ; at the west is Traverse Bay, the Muskegon, and Grand River ; while to the south is the northern outlet of Lake Erie. On every side, lakes and rivers are ready to transport the products of Michigan, which enjoys every advan- tage which belongs to the northern temperate zone. As this im- mense production, this flow inward of the growing population, this growth of industry, goes on, there will finally arise a great commercial city on the straits. Before we speak of this, let us glance at the commerce of the Lakes which has grown already out of this recent development of mines and fisheries and pineries. Even the people of the United States, accustomed to the rapid growth of their own country, have scarcely beon able to realize that of this lake commerce. " But a very few years since, scarce'-' a single steamer pro- ceeded beyond Detroit, and not five year- ! OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. and imports amount to hundreds of millions in value, and are still increasing ai a most rapid rate. Since the continuation of the canal round the Sault of St. Mary, the annual value of ex- ports and imports which pass through rhe Straits of Mackinaw is estimated at one hundred millions of dollars ; and this com- merce of thd great lake will flow on till it exceeds that of the Caspian or the Black Sea, till its shores shall be lined with cities, and the story of Marquette, and the victory of Pontiac, become the classic legends of marveling boyhood. With these facts before us, it is no surprise to find that, while the imme- diate country around Old Mackinaw is yet a wilderness, an en- terprising gentleman has laid out a city on the site of ' Old Mackinaw.' There was one laid out years before at the upper end of Lake Superior, and is now a large town, growing with great rapidity. Af the Straits of Mackinaw, as well as the upper end of Lake Superior, there must be large cities to supply the demands of commerce. It is not a matter of speculation, but a necessity of nature. The same Jiecessity has already created Buffalo, Toledo, Detroit, Chicago, and St. Louis. The demand for such towns on the shores 'if laka Huron and Superior, and especially at the Straits of AJ cktmiw, whose bay and Lake Michigan flow together, are obviously fa '■ theater than those which have already caused the growth of Buffalo and Chicago. They have grown to supply the commerce of comparatively limited districts. One means of testing this, is to apply radial lines to the site of any city existent or proposed, so as to include what naturally belongs to them, and thus compare them with one another. The radial lines of New York and Philadelphia extend across the ocean to Europe on one hand, and across the mountains to the valley of the Mississippi on the other. In looking to this fact, we are no longer surprised that New York has its millions of inhabitants, and Philadelphia its six hundred thousand. " If we look to the radial lines of Chicago, we find that they are limited on the south by the competition of St. Louis, and on the north by Milwaukee. Yet Chicago, at the southern end of Lake Michigan, has risen to be a large city by a sudden MACKINAC CITV. 171 and extraordinary growth, arising from the rich though limited country about it. Apply these radial lines to Mackinaw, and we find that they naturally include all of M higa, , a large part of Wisconsin, and a large part of Canada Wc t j but in reference to water navigation, fio interior sue in Af' nca is et/^ial to that of Mackinaw. Here concentrate the n wi^' "^ ng. v thousand quare miles of water surface, which h no if the Straits of Mackinaw. Two fat a commercial point which concentrai perior and Michigan mttst lie within the r but there is no such point but Mackinaw. center but that ob«'- '■ v^ed : That 'e of Lakes Su- ; their coasts ; Ihe other is, that the point of commerce which offers the shortect distance, and there- fore the cheapest, to the great markets of the Atlantic, will be preferred. Mackinaw is five hundred miles nearer to Buffalo than is Fond du Lac, and three hundred miles nearer than Chi- cago. So it is the same distance nearer to the Gulf of St. Law- rence, or the city of New York. It is on the south side only, through the peninsula of Michigan, and toward the States of In- diana and Ohio, that the position of Mackinaw seems deficient in communications. But we no sooner see this than we see also two great lines of railroad progressing from the south through the peninsula, toward Mackinaw. The one passes on the west side from Fort Wayne (Indiana), through Grand Rapids and Traverse Bay. The other through Lansing and Amboy ; both terminating on the north at Mackinaw, and both by connection with Indiana and Ohio roads at Cincinnati on the south, whence they will sooa be carried to the orange-growing shores of Florida. Thus may some future traveler be borne in a few hours from the soft air of the Southern Atlantic to the keen breezes of the north, and bathe his languid limbs in the clear, cold waters of Michigan. " Thus briefly have we followed the facts presented by Mr. Strickland, till we find ourselves again standing on the site of 'Old Mackinaw ;' no more the single, lonely spot of civilization amid red warriors and Alpine forests, but just emerging to light, amid a wonderful growth of people, of commerce, of industry, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I ISO ■^" I^^H ^ Uii 12.2 I' i I!: Ml 12.0 IL25 i 1.4 1.6 ^ V] 7 WA Photographic Sciences Corporation }3 WIST MAIN STRUT WHSTIR.N.Y. MSIO (716) •73-4S03 ■M OLD AND NEW MACKINAC. and art The forests still stand, scarcely broken ; but the sound of the advancing host, which is to level them with the ground, and build up the stmctures of civil society, can not be mistaken. They come with the heavy tread and confused noise of an army with banners. "The growth of the American States, as we have said, is from the outer to the inner circles ; from the shores of the At- lantic and the Pacific, from Hit Bay of St. Lawrence and the mouths of the Hudson and the Mississippi, toward the interior. Then we had Boston, New York, Quebec, and New Orleans, long before we had Pittsburg, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Chicago, which are the second growth when the wave flowed over the Al- leghanies. Again the wave is flowing from the valleys of the St. Lawrence, the Ohio, and the Mississippi, into the great central basin of the Lakes, which, lying in the very center of the North American Continent, are the last to receive, as they will ultimately concentrate, the great moving mass of humanity and civilization. The circles are growing narrower and Mackinaw, which was the center of Indian and of missionary romance, will finally become one of the great centers of commercial growth and social progress, presenting the contrast between the soli- tudes of nature and the wild life of the Indian, on one hand, with the busy activity of modern society, its multitude of people, and the wonderful arts. "The steady, uninterrupted growth of our country, which no other nation can now interrupt, affords at once the moral evidence thai what we have seen of growth and development in the past will be exhibited in a progressive line through the future till ages have passed away. We have seen from the little settlements at Plymouth and Jamestown their gradual growth inward, till cities arose along our coasts which rival the largest of ancient nations. We have seen them, again, extending along the Ohio and the Mississippi, till great towns, filled with com- merce and with arts, arose upon their banks. We have c^en them enter the basin of the Lakes, till Buffalo spreads itself along the rapids of Niagara, till Chicago looms up in a day MACKINAC CIT7. 173 and St. Paul looks down from the far north-west Why should not this movement continue? What should interrupt it? We may imagine the beautiful shores of Huron and Superior alive with the chariots of commerce, and gleaming with the spires of beautiful towns. Here, where we have stood on the site of 'Old Mackinaw,' beholding its world of waters, we seem to see, shining in the morning sun, some metropolis of the lakes, some Byzantium, presiding over the seas which lave its shores. Here, perhaps, in those bright days of triumphant civilization, some pilgrim student may inquire for the grave of Marquette, may read the story of Pontiac, and lament the woes of that wild nation who once frequented the shores of Huron, and sung their last songs round the ' Pequod'e'non'ge ' of the Indian, the Mackinaw of the whites." f I ■-T&.. X ,1 ^^ ■ t, ! ADDENDA. For the third time we send forth this Uttle vol- ume to the world in the hope that it may edify and instruct those who are curious to know more ahout the Mackinac region. At considerable expense we have added a number of views of various points of interest upon the Island. Arch and Sugar Loaf Eocks are dupHcated. The smaller views of these rocks are from pencil- ings, while the larger are from actual photographs. Both are good. Sugar Loaf Book is shown from two different points of observation, thus giving the reader a better idea of that wonder^fu^ "k than he could otherwise obtain. Since this volume was first published and stereo- typed, many improvements and changes have been made about the Island. The old agency building, described on page 128, and in which the author Hved while preparing this work, has been burned down. Several fine new residences have been put up in different parts of the village, and the whole Island considerably improved. FaciUties for reaching the Island are also greatly improved. At one time during our stay upon the Island we were seven long weeks without a mail ADDENDA. from the outside world ; now, during the Summer season, a letter dropped into the post-office at Grand Eapids in the evening reaches Mackinac at noon the next day. This wonderful improvement has been brought about by the completion of the Grand Bapids and Indiana Bailroad to Petoskey. This line of road is now one of the best in the coimtry ; the track is smooth and the management excellent. From Petoskey to Mackinac the company i-uns a hne of splendid steamers. This trip is most dehght- ful and interesting, as it brings the tourist T^thin sight of so many points of historic interest. We understand that this company proposes'to extend the line of their road from Petoskey to Mackinac at no distant day. Those who hke " much water " may still take the old routes from Detroit or Chicago by steamer and reach the Island by a sail of from thirty-six to forty- eight hours.