RAMECH 
 1 CHICAGO 
 
Le Long d une petite rivtfre" (Big Rock Creek). Where with the spring comes nature 
 loveliest dress." (Thotn hy Lincoln, Piano, III.) 
 
Lost Maramech and 
 Earliest Chicago 
 
 A HISTORY OF THE FOXES AND OF 
 
 THEIR DOWNFALL NEAR THE 
 
 GREAT VILLAGE OF 
 
 MARAMECH 
 
 Original Investigations and Discoveries 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN F. STEWARD 
 
 ASSISTANT GEOLOGIST OF THE COLORADO RIVER EXPLORING EXPEDI 
 TION, l87l; PRESIDENT OF THE MARAMECH HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 OF KENDALL CO., ILL.; MEMBER OF THE ILLINOIS 
 HISTORICAL SOCIETY; MEMBER OF THE 
 
 CHICAGO ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
 
 Chicago New York Toronto 
 
 Fleming H. Revell Company 
 
 London & Edinburgh 
 MCMIII 
 
Copyright, 1903, by 
 
 FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 
 
 (June) 
 
 Chicago: 63 Washington Street 
 New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
 Toronto: 27 Richmond Street, W 
 London: 21 Paternoster Square 
 Edinburgh: 30 St. Mary Street 
 
PREFACE 
 
 This book is directed, in the main, to putting 
 together the history of a people which reaches us 
 in fragments only. Some of the fragments were 
 dug from the military archives of France several 
 years ago, but the most important ones, those con 
 nected with what may practically be considered the 
 destruction of one of the fiercest people of America, 
 or, at least, taming it by a merciless war, were 
 recently found by Prof. Charles M. Andrist, whom 
 I engaged to make searches in the Bibliothdque 
 Nationale and the Archives of the Minister of the 
 Marine, in Paris. 
 
 Of the measures planned at Versailles for the 
 destruction of the Fox tribe, the carrying out of 
 none was more fatal than that of 1730, although it 
 is probable that a smaller number of the fated tribe 
 bit the dust than a few years earlier at Butte des 
 Morts, on the Fox river of Wisconsin. Where the 
 affair of 1730 took place had been lost up to my 
 discovery of an ancient earthwork near Piano, Illi 
 nois, that had undoubtedly been palisaded; since 
 then I have devoted much time in attempts that, 
 fortunately, have proved successful, to determine 
 what actually took place, and its date. 
 
 The descriptions of the lay of the land, found in 
 old records, apply to the site of ancient Maramech 
 so exactly that I have felt warranted in placing a 
 stone on the hill that shall connect the story with 
 
 5 
 
 9854.48 
 
6 PREFACE 
 
 the place and mark the site of the old fort until the 
 granite crumbles. 
 
 The diversity in spelling the names of places has 
 been great and, in putting the fragments in the 
 form of a story, necessarily broken, I have not fol 
 lowed the orthography of the various writers except 
 where it would be improper to do otherwise. 
 Where I have taken fragments that may be found in 
 many places, as in the Wisconsin Historical Collection, 
 New York Colonial Documents, Smith s History of Wis 
 consin^ etc., I have not always taken care to give 
 credit; in other words, where the subject-matter is 
 everywhere accessible to the public, and is a mere 
 copy of some document, I have not taken the trouble 
 to mention the channels through which it came to 
 hand. The best English is not found in some of 
 the translations I have copied, but it has been 
 thought advisable to make no change. 
 
 This book has been prepared not to profit the 
 author, but for profit to those who are or may 
 become interested in early western history. Few 
 modern authors are quoted, as I have preferred to 
 go to the original sources of information In order 
 to become able to do so, I have examined a multi 
 tude of old maps and have explored the Quays of 
 Paris, the Antiquarian book stores of the largest 
 English and Scotch cities, as well as those of the 
 United States, with the result that original editions 
 of most of the early French writings are before me. 
 My main dependence has been upon histories and 
 accounts published before the year 1750; the prin 
 cipal authors quoted being La Salle, Tonti, Henne- 
 pin, the Jesuits (Jesuit Relations), La Hontan, La 
 
PREFACE 7 
 
 Potherie, Perrot, Charlevoix, Margry s Collections, 
 and the collection known as the New York Colonial 
 Documents. The last two are compilations merely 
 of original English and French documents bearing 
 upon the early travels and explorations in America. 
 From the many thousand pages constituting these 
 collections of documents, and from the authors above 
 mentioned, I have been able, during the last quarter 
 of a century, to gather scraps of history that, when 
 put in order, tell the story of Maramech as well as 
 of the defeat and destruction of the Fox tribe. Not 
 to books alone must I give credit, however, but also 
 to my spade, my only servant in my years of labor. 
 I have not dared to attempt to avail myself of the 
 aid of a romantic pen, to smoothly join the gath 
 ered fragments, and this must be my apology for 
 the broken narrative. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
Illustrations 
 
 PAGE 
 
 "Le long d une petite riviere" (Big Rock Creek). .Frontispiece 
 
 Scalps taken were proofs of bravery n 
 
 Site of the Great Village of Maramech and of the destruc 
 tion of the larger part of the Fox Tribe in 1730 21 
 
 Maramech Hill, from the South 29 
 
 Specimens of the Ceramic Art, from the Site of Maramech 35 
 Maramech Hill showing the "gentle slope" mentioned in 
 
 the military reports 36 
 
 One of the Twin Rocks 38 
 
 The Kishwaukee Trail 43 
 
 Work of the Potters of Maramech 48 
 
 Relics of the Miller and His Mill 54 
 
 Pu-ci-ti-nig-wa, His Counsellors and the Interpreter, Fox 
 
 Reservation 80 
 
 Fair Specimens, Tama Reservation 95 
 
 Hundreds of Arrow Heads Turned up by the Plow 121 
 
 The Cemetery, Tama Reservation 121 
 
 The Dancers, Tama Reservation 143 
 
 The Dog Sacrifice, Tama Reservation 143 
 
 Joseph Tisson, the Interpreter, and Child, Tama Reserva 
 tion 161 
 
 Fair Ones of the Tama Reservation 231 
 
 Harvesting Wild Rice 231 
 
 The Present and Future 269 
 
 Lettering the Massive Boulder 281 
 
 Frame of Fox Wigwam, Tama Reservation 291 
 
 Fox Wigwam, Tama Reservation 291 
 
 Site of De Villiers "Cavalier" (Little Fort) 295 
 
 "Now the hill s gentle slope is shocked only by the battles 
 
 of the elements 309 
 
 The Chief s Wigwam, Tama Reservation 343 
 
 Inscription on Boulder (translated into Fox language and 
 
 shown in Fox script) 344 
 
 Shaubena, a Pottawatomie Chief 354 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 We are told that the natives of the New World 
 were savages; as reported by intruders into their 
 country, they appear so to have been. To those 
 who intruded, no doubt, the natives seemed tame 
 less; if tameless meant inability to turn to our 
 domestic ways, more savage in many respects than 
 their own, they were indeed tameless. If it was 
 thought by the invaders that to defend homes and 
 kindred, to drive intruders from the hunting- 
 grounds that constituted their fields of sustenance, 
 rendered them worthy of the name, they were sav 
 ages. Nevertheless I have experienced every 
 degree of kindness at the hands of a few of these 
 tameless people, whom I know to be savages, accord 
 ing to our acceptation of the term, which, by the 
 way, is only comparative. The Indian mother is 
 not alone a savage because sometimes moved to the 
 fierceness of a tigress, for her pale-face sister, in 
 defending her child, with tooth and nail will tear 
 the flesh of him who would take from her her off 
 spring. 
 
 Where sets the sun a few remain savages still. 
 I have been with them in their homes, have shared 
 with them, and, in turn, have accepted their hos 
 pitality. One incident, in the far west, in the 
 
 9 
 
io LOST MARAMECH 
 
 rugged canon of the Colorado river, I shall not for 
 get. Memory still vividly pictures a rude shelter of 
 willows, cut by my comrades and leaned together 
 willow branches upon the sand of the shore in the 
 canons of the Colorado river, my bed. A shout 
 from the cliff announced the nearness of a friend. 
 Signalled to approach, a stalwart Navajo descended. 
 Drawing near he heard the moans of an afflicted 
 man, and his sympathies were aroused. His tongue 
 was untrained to our language, but a few gestures 
 and words of Spanish sufficed to make me under 
 stand that, if I thought myself able to ride, he 
 would take me on one of his ponies to the Mormon 
 settlement. Although a savage, he was willing to 
 turn back on his trail and take me where I could be 
 better cared for. 
 
 Asking no reward, he offered to travel thither and 
 back, two hundred miles, in my behalf. Agua 
 Grande! How noble he looks to me, through the 
 years! In form and every feature he seemed like 
 one of nature s noblest. His sympathy cheered me 
 as he bent over, and shone in his storm-beaten face 
 as tenderly as in the face of woman. 
 
 Savage we say the natives were, because they 
 inflicted pain without a thought of mercy so the 
 foreign intruders thought. They were, in fact, indif 
 ferent to the agonies of their enemies taken in war, 
 when burning them at the stake; so were the bigots 
 of the religious denominations in the Old World, 
 when, with fire and rack, they were torturing those 
 who disputed their dogmas. The natives burned a 
 captive in order to terrify his tribe, their enemy. 
 In so doing they seemed heartless; but were not the 
 
Scalps taken were proofs of bravery. 
 (From Schootcraft. ) 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO n 
 
 British magistrates heartless when burning witches? 
 The natives were considered not to have passed the 
 state of barbarism because they were superstitious; 
 that is, the natives were charged with being super 
 stitious by those who themselves believed in witch 
 craft, and thought that they were doing God a 
 service by beginning, here on earth, the torments of 
 the hell they so fervently believed in. These bigots 
 were not willing to leave those they condemned 
 wholly to God, and their punishment to Him at the 
 day of judgment. As compared with our ancestors, 
 the natives were indeed unrefined, particularly in 
 methods of inflicting torture. They even tore off 
 the finger nails of captives with their teeth, and did 
 many cruel things in as crude a way. How much 
 more scientifically the operations might have been 
 performed! Pincers of steel would also have been 
 more convenient, had they been furnished by their 
 newly-arrived brothers, who so long had used them 
 in Europe to lacerate the hands of heretics, in 
 efforts to convince them of their error in matters of 
 belief. The children of the forest were taught that, 
 to be a warrior, to be brave, when captured or tor 
 tured, was the height to which ambition should 
 aspire, and that to take the scalp of an enemy was 
 the greatest of achievements. He killed for glory. 
 The nearest approach to a law was "an eye for an 
 eye, and a tooth for a tooth"; so he slew the mur 
 derer of a relative or of a friend. They killed in 
 revenge, but seldom to rob. They rarely slaugh 
 tered animals for sport merely. They kept no 
 "game preserves" in which to gratify their savage 
 instincts, as do many of the wealthy up to this, the 
 
12 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 third year of the twentieth century. They killed 
 the innocent birds for feathers with which to deck 
 their heads and pipes of peace, but did that neces 
 sarily show them to be barbarous? While I write a 
 Christian lady passes my window, her head adorned 
 with a hat on which the wing, the head, and tail 
 feathers of a large, dark-hued bird are stitched. 
 She is dressed in mourning; the life of an innocent 
 bird was taken to add an emphasizing mark to her 
 grief. 
 
 Let us cease to cast stones until we are ourselves 
 without sin. Those who have sought acquaintance 
 with the red man at the point of the sword have not 
 learned his better nature. The highway robber does 
 not win our love; trespassers on one s rights do not 
 inspire kind words and smiles. We must not judge 
 of the Indian, as pictured by the whites, for they 
 tell us of him only as he was after his contamina 
 tion by them. My story is one of wrongs; it is one 
 of woes; it is of wars of extermination, with all that 
 they imply. Could I dip my pen in the blood of 
 the innocent, I might make my story impressive, 
 were it not that our language is, alas, so weak. If 
 to torture marks the savage, then what of the early 
 settlers of Illinois, who, after taking possession of 
 Kaskaskia, committed the following act? 
 
 "Illinois, to wit: To Richard Winston, Esq., 
 Sheriff-in-chief of the District of Kaskaskia: 
 
 "Negro Manuel, a Slave in your custody, is con 
 demned by the Court of Kaskaskia, after having 
 made honorable Fine at the Door of the Church, to 
 be chained to a post at the Water-Side and there 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 13 
 
 to be burnt alive and his ashes scattered, as appears 
 to me by the Record. This sentence you are hereby 
 required to put in execution on Tuesday next at 9 
 o clock in the morning, and this shall be your war 
 rant. Given under my hand and seal at Kaskaskia, 
 the I3th day of June, in the third year of the Com 
 monwealth." 
 
 We have a better nature that sometimes sways us. 
 So had they, but as we know them now they seem 
 to have reached the lowest degradation. By nature 
 they were honest, but we taught them to be thieves; 
 were truthful, but learned to lie from the white man. 
 They were not avaricious, and hence not selfish. 
 They were so hospitable that even an enemy was 
 safe among them while partaking of their hospi 
 tality. Before I begin my story let us become 
 acquainted with them as they were when found. 
 
 Peter Martyr, Columbus, and others who were 
 first to meet the red man, spoke in praise. La 
 Fiteau said: 
 
 "The savages have good intellects, lively imagina 
 tions, ready conception, admirable memory. All 
 have at least some traces of an ancient and hereditary 
 religion and a form of government; they reason 
 logically upon their affairs; they reach their end 
 by sure means; they are deliberative, and with a 
 composure which exceeds our patience; by reason 
 of honor, and by grandeur of soul, they never anger, 
 appear always masters of themselves; they never 
 show passions; they are high-minded and proud, 
 and put to the proof, show great courage, intrepid 
 valor, a constancy in the torments which is heroic, 
 
I 4 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 and an equanimity that misfortune and reverses can 
 not alter. Among themselves they have a degree 
 of politeness of manner which guards them from 
 unkindness, a respect for the aged, a deference for 
 their equals which is really surprising and that one 
 scarcely reconciles with the independence and the 
 freedom of which they appear extremely jealous; 
 they caress but little, and make few demonstrations; 
 but notwithstanding that, they are good and affable 
 and exercise toward the stranger and the unfortunate 
 a hospitality which might well put all of the nations 
 of Europe to blush." 
 
 Volumes might be quoted to show the better side 
 of their natures. I am pardonable for not telling of 
 their vices, for every schoolboy has heard and seen 
 the savage pictured since infancy, and blood-cur 
 dling stories have fed his imagination to satiety. 
 We prate of our virtues; does it not seem strange 
 that we imparted only our vices to them? The 
 red race is passing away, as by a pestilence, and 
 that by the too ready adoption of the habits and evil 
 ways of the white man. Have we adopted one of 
 the many virtues these people were credited with 
 possessing when our fathers came among them? 
 What one of our vices did we not impart to them? 
 Drink was unknown, but we made them drunkards; 
 and that, too, in order to cheat them more easily. 
 We accepted their one bad habit, only to magnify it 
 and make it more disgusting. How well fitted is the 
 white father to kiss the lips of the loved ones, his 
 own lips stained with the foul-smelling weed, and to 
 caress his babes, his clothing saturated with an 
 odor that stings the olfactory nerves. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 15 
 
 Fast-fading, degenerate race! Well may we bow 
 our heads in shame before you! Pity you? Alas! 
 It is too late; but remorse should yet consume us. 
 Too late? No, it is too early; it is too early in the 
 development of the human race for the proper exer 
 cise of pity. How can the heart of one who burns 
 a human being at the stake melt with pity? How 
 can the hearts of those who mob a mere suspect be 
 wrung in tears? This] very night, this very minute, 
 unless this night is an exception, in this busy Chris 
 tian city, its streets brilliant with electric lights, its 
 spires reaching far heavenward, and their bells call 
 ing to evening prayers, a laborer returning to his 
 home with his week s earnings is "held up." 
 Purses are snatched from women s hands. To-mor 
 row morning the police court will be crowded. The 
 shelves of the libraries of the civilized world groan 
 under their loads of books of law, yet in all the 
 so-called enlightened countries enough policemen, 
 and other officers, cannot be maintained to enforce 
 the laws. We lie, we cheat, we murder, and violate 
 every moral law, as we did two -hundred years ago; 
 and yet, as we did two hundred years ago, we send 
 missionaries among those who live more moral lives 
 than we. Three hundred years ago few laws were 
 known to the people of America, unless perhaps in 
 Mexico and Peru. The people were without enacted 
 laws, but were not lawless. They had governments; 
 but those governments were founded on the moral law. 
 
 Is there another side to their nature? As certain 
 as it is that we, who are said to have been created in 
 the image of God, have a brutish side to our natures. 
 Peter Martyr said: 
 
16 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 "It is certain that the land among these people is 
 as common as the sun and water, and that mine and 
 thine, the seed of all misery, have no place with 
 them. They are content with so little that, in such 
 a large country, they have rather a superfluity than 
 a scarceness, so that they live in the golden world 
 without toil, living in the open gardens not in 
 trenched, divided with hedges, or defended with 
 walls. They deal truly, one with another, without 
 laws, without books, without judges. They take 
 him for an evil and mischievous man who taketh 
 pleasure in doing hurt to another; and albeit they 
 delight not in superfluities, yet they make provisions 
 for the increase of such roots whereof they make 
 bread, content with such simple diet, whereof health 
 is preserved and disease is avoided." 
 
 Yes, there is another side to their nature. They 
 were bloodthirsty, as we understand the term. The 
 Foxes, whose history I have gathered, possessed all 
 the good as well as all the savage traits. If that 
 fact warranted the wholesale murder of the natives, 
 by the intruding settlers, then what shall we do with 
 the three thousand men of enlightened Kansas, who, 
 suspecting a negro of murder, of which he declared 
 himself innocent, refused to allow the law to take 
 its course, took him from the sheriff s posse by 
 force, threw coal oil over him and set fire to it? I 
 curse these men as brutal. Compared with their 
 act, all the tortures and murders charged to our 
 natives were as acts of kindness. 
 
 History told in cold type may be likened to the 
 mossy marble that casts its shadow across a grass- 
 grown battlefield. Pen-pictures may embellish the 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 17 
 
 tale, but the struggle, the terrors, the death-throes, 
 the tortures of flame and sword, no stone, however 
 wrought, no print, even in colors of blood, can tell. 
 Greater though the pen, palsies the hand that would 
 move it, and languishes the brain before the task of 
 telling, in its fullness, what the sword hath wrought, 
 A nation, the strong hand of fate clutching its 
 throat, its warriors struggling as only the brave can, 
 struggling for its existence, struggling for the loved 
 ones, fire at its front, famine in its ranks and in its 
 homeless families what pen can tell its story? As 
 with the lash of pestilence, we drove the natives to 
 their doom, from the land of their birth, the home 
 dear to them. 
 
 Come to our western prairies when the sun has 
 ripened the year to its fullness, and to the streams 
 along which fruits hang ready for the lips. Though 
 the shade-loving bluebells have dropped their 
 petals, the goldenrod has sought the sun, and in the 
 morning the cheery notes of the birds are music. 
 The mating time is far past, and the broods are 
 found in every covert. When come the shades of 
 eve, the night-hawk swoops down from his high 
 flight with open throat and tells bob-white and 
 whip-poor-will their time of call has come. Stay 
 with me. Do not tire. There are other groves and 
 streams, and other hearts than mine there cling; but 
 it was here I first saw light. Twas here that my 
 heartstrings were tuned to Nature s chime. My 
 cradle rocked beneath the boughs where robins sang. 
 In June the locust blossoms showered upon the low 
 shake-roof over my natal bed, and every new year 
 bade me welcome. So, like the natives, a child of 
 
iS LOST MARAMECH 
 
 Nature, I love the prairies, their groves and 
 streams. 
 
 Did not the dusky children of the wilds, nurtured 
 as close to Nature s bosom as I, love the brookside 
 shades and the fruits, sun-kissed to ripeness for 
 them? Were our love-sighs the first to be echoed 
 by the dove s low call, and was the plush of the soft 
 banks made only for the white maid and lover? The 
 heart of the young roots deeply into the soil that 
 nourishes it, and there it ever clings. Did not the 
 many generations that came and went cling to the 
 homes into which they were cradled? Is it that we 
 only, driven by Fate that severs family ties and 
 turns homes to ashes, feel a sting? May not those 
 wedded to this western sod have shrieked when 
 hearts were torn to shreds? 
 
 My story of a nearly vanished tribe is also one of 
 devastation, pursuit, and destruction. I find the 
 tale only in tatters, a bit here and there, in musty 
 volumes; follow me and you shall soon know their 
 full meaning. 
 
 They tell us of a battle fought, but say not where; 
 they tell us of famine somewhere in this great fertile 
 valley of the middle west, the garden spot of the 
 world, where hunger now seems impossible; but his 
 torians have not hitherto found the place. 
 
 Of the defeat the victor wrote: "Voila une nation 
 humiltie de fa$on qu elle ne troublera plus de tcrre." 
 Ferland II., 439. (Behold a nation humiliated to 
 such an extent that it will no more trouble the 
 earth.) Let us consider, a moment, the people of 
 whom I am writing. The environments of their 
 birthplaces were such as so-called civilization knows 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 19 
 
 nothing of; their schooling was that of the chase 
 and war; their inherent ambitions were only those 
 urging to greatness as warriors. How can we, of 
 this generation, judge them fairly? Let us not be 
 deceived by the terms applied to these natives. 
 The beasts the explorers found along the St. Law 
 rence river were wild, and the French called them 
 sauvage. The people they found living a life of wild 
 freedom they also called sauvage^ although many 
 were so mild in manners as to put the French to 
 shame. We have given the French word sauvage^ 
 that merely means wild, a most savage interpreta 
 tion. 
 
 The European missionaries were not in position 
 to call these people savage, indiscriminately, in the 
 present sense of the term. 
 
Site of the "Great Village of Mara- 
 
 mech" and of the destruction 
 
 of the larger part of the 
 
 Fox tribe in 1730. 
 
 Modeled in clay. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 Call it idle curiosity that incites us unwrap the 
 winding-sheet of the mummy, if you will; say, if you 
 please, that it was curiosity merely that prompted 
 me to dig into musty archives for information, writ 
 ten in a foreign language, with its incongruities of 
 two hundred years ago. Be that as it may, it is 
 hoped that some will scan these pages with the 
 pleasure that the lover of history experiences. 
 
 Where lettered man has lived and loved, has 
 fought and died; where romance and strife have 
 been made indelible there is history. Where let 
 ters are not known, tradition alone serves to per 
 petuate the current of events of a people but, alas, 
 in a manner so broken! 
 
 On the broad prairies of northern Illinois and 
 southern Wisconsin long lived a people of whom 
 my story shall tell, and of whom we long have lived 
 in almost total ignorance. Fortunately for the 
 lovers of historical pursuits many records, scattered 
 though they now are, were made by the early 
 explorers of our country and have been preserved, 
 In the archives of France, from which most of my 
 materials have been dug, more may hereafter be 
 found; and it is hoped that, with the aid of appro 
 priations by the government, all scraps of early his 
 tory bearing upon our region will be collected. 
 Along the hills and groves of northern Illinois lies 
 the main scene of my story. The echoes of tradi- 
 
 21 
 
22 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 tion have died away until only a mere murmur 
 remains; no recent writer before me has seemed to 
 know what there took place nor when. 
 
 The most interesting and tragic event in the 
 Indian history of Illinois has thus remained to the 
 present time in the obscurity of scattered annals. 
 These I have gathered, and the story is, for the first 
 time, made to some extent complete. 
 
 The discovery of a few potsherds and heaps of earth, 
 along the beautiful Fox river (Riviere du Rocher 
 of the early French), in Kendall county, Illinois, near 
 the present busy little city of Piano, spurred me into 
 investigations that have extended over a quarter of 
 a century; and my researches in the archives of 
 France, with those of others, have led to the discov 
 ery of early historical facts of great interest. 
 
 What and where was Maramech? What tribe of 
 natives was it that lived by the chase on the five 
 prairies that neighbor near the mouth of Big Rock 
 creek, and planted its corn in the rich valley? Who 
 was it that gathered the fruits and nuts in the forest 
 that borders this beautiful creek and the river that, 
 in turn, carries the creek s cool contribution to the 
 Father of Waters? Who lived here in the freedom 
 we so much enjoy when we throw off the harness of 
 restraint and seek the shades of the great trees at 
 Sylvan Spring and pitch our tents for a season of 
 absolute rest? Follow my story, and you shall 
 learn. 
 
 Early French maps show that no place in the 
 west was then better known than the northern part 
 of Illinois. When visited by Nicholas Perrot and 
 the French traders, so rich was it in game that it 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 23 
 
 formed the hunting-ground of many Algonquin 
 tribes; indeed, it supplied the needs of the aborig- 
 
 ines to such an extent that battles were fought for 
 its possession. The Iroquois of the east, sworn ene- 
 
24 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 mies of all the Algonquin tribes, sought to rob them 
 of their homes, but succeeded in part only, leaving 
 the deed to be finished by so-called civilized man, 
 who later lusted after the bounties Nature had here 
 showered down. 
 
 Of La Salle s first explorations we know but little, 
 for they were carried on in a manner so quiet that 
 only the governor of New France was aware of his 
 whereabouts much of the time during the years pre 
 ceding the grant, to him, along the St. Lawrence 
 and later in the country of the Illinois. He was a 
 "Coureur du bois" of the most energetic type; he 
 knew too well the value of the Mississippi valley to 
 France to make known to the world his belief, or 
 the evidences thereof, that it could be better reached 
 from the Gulf of Mexico than by way of the St. 
 Lawrence, with its many rapids and with that great 
 barrier the falls of Niagara. Of all this he dared 
 not speak, except in a whisper, to the governor. 
 This knowledge, and the immeasurable confidence 
 on the part of the governor, resulted in the permits 
 that enabled La Salle to complete his discoveries. 
 
 The silence of the great explorer was the cause of 
 the break in the story of his life which enabled the 
 Jesuits (who wished to appropriate all the honors, 
 and the commercial opportunities as well), to claim 
 that Frontenac and the Abbe de Galinee had drawn 
 upon their imaginations in making the records they 
 left regarding La Salle s explorations, in 1669, on 
 the Ohio and other western rivers. (Margry I., 112.) 
 
 He again visited the region in 1680, descended 
 the Illinois river and reached the mouth of the Mis 
 sissippi. He returned and spent part of the year 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 25 
 
 1683 a d established the Colonie du Str. De La Salle, 
 within what is now La Salle, Will, Kendall, and 
 Cook counties, Illinois, and left his faithful lieu 
 tenant, Henri de Tonty, in charge of the fort estab 
 lished by him on what is now t known as Starved 
 Rock, in La Salle county. He then passed on to 
 Canada and there gave to Franquelin, the Official 
 Cartographer of Canada, the information necessary 
 to enable him to draw his map of 1684. On the lat 
 ter the Illinois river, the Des Plaines, Kankakee, 
 Fox river, and others are shown, but all bear their 
 aboriginal names. 
 
 At the head of the last-mentioned river is a small 
 body of water that now forms a summer resort much 
 
 JOLIET S MAP. 
 
 sought by the weary Pistakee lake, until recently 
 pronounced Pes-ta-koo-ee. Whence that name? 
 The little lake is shown on only one of the old maps, 
 but the river flowing from it is on other maps laid 
 
26 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 down and named "Pestekuoy." On Lanman s map, 
 in his history of Michigan, the river, of which the lake 
 is, in fact, but an enlargement, bears the same name. 
 When Joliet, accompanied by the modest Mar- 
 quette,* in his efforts to carry out the instructions 
 of the governor of Canada, to him, to find the sea 
 of the west, floated down the Wisconsin and Missis 
 sippi rivers, and, returning, stemmed the current of 
 the Illinois river to the portage at "Chicagou," he 
 sought to gather such information as, added to that 
 acquired by La Salle and other earlier explorers and 
 traders, would be beneficial to his king and fellow 
 countrymen. 
 
 We have his maps and also Marquette s. On a 
 map, said to have been founded on Marquette s pub 
 lished in France in 1681, by Thevenot, a little north 
 of the Illinois river, is drawn the picture of a 
 buffalo, which, in the various Algonquin languages, 
 bore the name given to the river of which I shall 
 often speak, and to the lake above referred to that 
 forms one of its enlargements as well as one of its 
 
 *Marquette, in his journal, tells us all about Joliet, appointed 
 by the governor of New France to make the exploration, and 
 the opportunity offered him to accompany the expedition. Yet 
 so great was the desire of John G. Shea that the Catholics be 
 given the credit that, in his History of the Catholic Missions, 
 he devotes pages to the voyage, but fails to even mention 
 Joliet s name. Although there were other Frenchmen in the 
 party and some Indian guides, the author says: "Long sailed 
 he on, with no witness to his way but the birds and beasts of 
 the plains." The claims later made for Maiquette by the 
 Jesuits were not warranted by anything left in writing, or 
 otherwise, by their hero. He admitted Joliet was the head 
 and front of the exploration. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 27 
 
 sources. The maker of Thevenot s map spelled the 
 name of the animal Pichikib (Peeshikioo)* In the 
 Jesuit Relations 
 the name of the 
 animal is spelled 
 Pisikiou. Some 
 cart ographers 
 spelled it, as ap- 
 plied to the 
 river, Pestricoui^ 
 and Tony spelled 
 it Pestegonky\ 
 each writer made 
 his best effort to 
 represent the un 
 familiar sounds 
 that formed the 
 word, by the use 
 of the conven 
 tional symbols 
 of the sounds in 
 his mother 
 
 tongue, so far as his ear, dull to the language new 
 to him, enabled him to do. 
 
 In Franquelin s map of 1684, on tne west bank of 
 the river Pestekuoy, presumably a little above the 
 confluence of Big Rock creek (which, however, is 
 not on the ancient maps), is placed the town of 
 Maramech. In his later map the final two letters are 
 
 *In Thevenot s Collection of Voyages, we find on page 12 : 
 "Nous appe lions les Pisikious Bosuf Sauvages," and the 
 author goes on to say that they do so because these animals 
 (the buffalo) are very similar to domestic cattle. 
 
 is > 
 
28 
 
 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 omitted. On an early map, corrected by Tillamen 
 (Paris, 1688), it is spelled Maramea. In Popples 
 map, of later date, it is Maraux, as also in an 
 
 N\ 
 
 FRANQUELIN S, 1688, SHOWING MARAMECH DIFFERENTLY 
 SPELLED. FROM WINSOR S NARRATIVE AND CRITICAL HIS 
 TORY. 
 
 unnamed and undated "official" French map of 
 1718, now in the British Museum. 
 
 It was ever the custom, among savage tribes, to 
 give descriptive names to places and things. A 
 stream that was characterized by an abundance of 
 
Maramech Hill, from the south. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 29 
 
 sturgeon was given the name of that fish, hence 
 Merrimac was applied to the river of New England, 
 and Marame to the Kalamazoo river of Michigan. 
 A river in Missouri also bears the name. The word 
 is seldom found spelled twice alike by old writers, 
 but it meant the spiny sturgeon. 
 
 Come with me to the site of ancient Maramech, 
 the "great village" of the Miamis. The Fox river, 
 as we now know it, always beautiful, in the autumn 
 months has special charms. Great maple and wal 
 nut trees overhang its banks; plums, sweeter than 
 any cultivated orchard ever produced, are found 
 wild; pawpaws in September offer their riches, and 
 nuts are the harvest of the squirrels. From the time 
 
 Nrfimaea Illinois 
 
 FRAGMENT OF POPPLES MAP. SHOWING THE HILLS OF 
 MARAMECH. 
 
 of the May apple and strawberry, in early summer, 
 until the last nut has fallen, everything necessary to 
 sustain life can be found growing spontaneously. 
 
 Where once the natives raised their corn we now 
 see great fields planted with but little greater regu 
 larity by the machine of to-day; the plow-cultivated 
 
30 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 rows show but little improvement over the aborig 
 inal method of placing the hills in rows, a long step 
 
 apart, and ridging them. The way we plant and 
 "tend" was taught us by the people who left the 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 31 
 
 golden legacy. Upon the hillsides that face the 
 sun, the grapes of the white man grow no more 
 luxuriantly than those whose clambering vines erst 
 while reached the very treetops. The wild grape 
 was, to those early people, as great a luxury as it 
 
 TILLMAN (TILLEMON) 1688 
 
 now is to the boys who gather from the few remain 
 ing vines the scattered bunches, sweetened by the 
 early frosts. On these sunny hillsides, I am led to 
 believe, they cultivated the large grape indigenous 
 to our southern climates; early explorers speak of a 
 
32 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 grape, the principal characteristic of which was its 
 great size. With the passing into du^ of the foster 
 ing hand, this grape also passed away, smitten by 
 the rigors of our climate. 
 
 This river, the river of the buffalo, always warm, 
 born of the lakes that now form the summer resorts, 
 tempts the bather precisely as it did the naked sav 
 age whose morning bath was taken in its pools. 
 
 FRAGMENT OF CORONELLI S MAP OF 1693. 
 
 Picnic parties in gay attire are now rowed among 
 the islands and along the shore, where, at the time 
 my story begins, the canoe, hewn from a single log, 
 was moved by arms as strong as those of modern 
 athletes. In the beautiful river of the buffalo the 
 bass, the pike, and other game fish may yet be 
 found. The modern angler with rod and reel, his 
 most precious lines and flies, makes no greater catch 
 than did the man who, with torch at the bow, stand 
 ing astride of his canoe, threw his spear with uner- 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 33 
 
 ring aim at the darting pickerel. Where now the 
 sportsman, with dog and modern arms, satisfies his 
 savage thirst to* blood, there the native, with bow 
 and arrow, killed only to sustain life. The former 
 kills for the love of it; and the latter, like him to 
 whom the sportsman applies the epithet "pot 
 hunter," took the life of beasts and of the innocent 
 feathered tribe only to sustain himself. 
 
 fc- v ITTtwSJ* 
 
 FRAGMENT OF GIBSON S MAP, 1763. 
 
 Beautiful river of the buffalo! River of the Rock! 
 Fox river! Thy rounded bluffs, thy bordering 
 woods, thy long stretches of bottom land, where the 
 natives raised their corn, now blooming the summer 
 long with Nature s best efforts, and thy graceful 
 elms, where still the robin wakes the morn with 
 
34 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 song, I love thee yet as when, in my early days, I 
 read thee as a poem! 
 
 Beautiful river! Adorned by the rocky mounds 
 that gave thee thy second name in written history, 
 Riviere du Rocher, thy charms call the people to the 
 roomy "old mill," gray with age! There gather the 
 young for frolic, the summer long! 
 
 River of the Rock! How often midst the sum 
 mer s heat have I cooled my brow along thy shore, 
 sitting beneath the shade trees that found scanty 
 footing, and how often have I plunged from thy banks ! 
 
 Beautiful valley! Often I have scanned thy face, 
 sitting on those mounds that rise six times my height 
 above the river, and contemplated what the years 
 might tell of all that passed. Here lovers sat and 
 told the old, old story. No well-kept lawn was 
 ever more attractive than thy sod. Up the stream, 
 along the shaded shore, once stretched the cabins 
 of the denizens of Maramech. The hearth-stones 
 that were within those cabins sometimes are laid 
 bare by the melting snows of spring, which cause 
 the stream to overflow its banks. Behind these 
 dwellings were the fields, where melons grew, and 
 from which came the roasting-ears that marked the 
 time of the corn feast. 
 
 From this rock, stretching along the river bank, to 
 and on along the creek that adds its ever-cooling 
 flood to the warmer waters of the river, extended the 
 fields and homes. Only primitive art was displayed 
 in the building of these shelters, but they were 
 warm. Constructed of strong frames and covered 
 with bark of the elm, or matting made of rushes, 
 with roofs to match, they were impervious to wind 
 
Specimens of the Ceramic Art, from the site of Maramech. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 35 
 
 and rain. In covered places, of which no mark is 
 left, the corn was stored for winter s use, and upon 
 scaffolds in the cabins, beans, dried pumpkins and 
 squashes were kept for time of need. 
 
 River of the Rock! Well it is that thy two tribu 
 taries, which unite and flow into thy channel, are 
 still known by thy earlier name, now so nearly for 
 gotten; although the names of thy little tributaries 
 linger, tradition does not tell us why so christened. 
 Big Rock Creek I Thy waters, spring born, so cool in 
 summer, yet warm enough to be proof against the win 
 ter s cold, are clear as those of the mountain stream. 
 To all, except the geologist, it seems strange that thy 
 waters are always bright, while neighboring streams 
 are mere drains for the fields on the far-reaching 
 prairies. The river that receives thy waters, with 
 its lovely banks and groves, and the five prairies 
 that almost meet, is only exceeded in its beauty by 
 thy shades, where the bluebells of spring, delicate 
 and tender as the eyes of beauty, have sought thy 
 hillsides, where the violets, sweet as the wild rose of 
 the prairies so near, lend their charms. Along thy 
 banks were many of the long-vanished homes of 
 Maramech. The line of cabins reached where stands 
 the old mill whose gable windows blink to the mid 
 day sun, and, onward still, beyond where stood the 
 older mill (now but a memory) that yielded its grists 
 to the early settlers. 
 
 Beautiful creek! Long before the savage instincts 
 of the boy had been smothered, I learned to love 
 thee. In thy pools the pickerel and bass, choosing 
 thy cool waters, came from the warmer river and 
 were tempted by my bait. 
 
36 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 Burnt stones and bones, washed from the banks, 
 show that generations of fishermen had already 
 come and gone. 
 
 The story of the Little Creek of the Rock is short. 
 Along the bluffs clay, from which the potters of 
 Maramech formed their wares, is found. This little 
 stream that, within my memory, swept the southern 
 foot of Maramech hill, for a time was diverted by 
 the hand of man to turn his wheels. Obedient only 
 for a while it was; then, like the horse long re 
 strained, taking the bit in its teeth and running at 
 will, it burst its bounds and sought again the old 
 channel. But during the years of its restraint, the 
 rainfalls upon the now bare summit of Maramech 
 hill had torn away the ancient passage from fort to 
 creek, of which I shall tell, thrown a gravel-spit 
 across the old channel and forced this stream to a 
 third course. The surrounding swamp that faintly 
 marks the unhealed scar of the little stream of geo 
 logical times, finds, in part, drainage into Big Rock 
 creek, and in part an outlet into the lesser stream 
 Lately the swamp has been cut by another gravel- 
 spit, so that, at all times, one may ignore the new- 
 cut road at the eastern side and pass to the hill dry- 
 shod. 
 
 By common consent, since my studies resulted in 
 the identification of the place, a name has been 
 given this romantic spot. The "Great Village of 
 Maramech" having been near the hill, why not, it 
 was thought, call the latter by that name? May it 
 not have been so in the language now little spoken?* 
 
 *At a time not very remote, perhaps not more than ten 
 thousand years ago, the smaller creek ran to the west of this 
 
Maramech Hill. The "gentle slope, rising to the west and northwest from a 
 
 little river." 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 37 
 
 Before the Galena limestone, on which the great 
 depth of gravel forming the hill rests, was swept 
 bare by glacial action, many forms of animal life 
 existed, differing little from those we know. The 
 great ice-cap crept from the north, and by its slow but 
 mighty forces crushed the rocks whose debris forms 
 these gravel-beds. Its resistless share turned under 
 all forms of life; in the gravel of the hill, to the south, 
 a considerable depth below the surface, a tooth 
 of the great American elephant was recently found. 
 The gravel-beds being so dry, this pre-glacial relic 
 shows for itself that it had been well housed. 
 
 Before this hill was laid, these monsters browsed 
 in the forests that ultimately fell with them. Before 
 the river had found its way, these gravels had been 
 sifted and shifted and laid in beds as clean as the 
 sands of the seashore. The region was a lake during 
 a later time, because a barrier of marble whiteness, 
 the St. Peter Sandstone, rose high a few miles south 
 ward. The softer strata, the shales of the Cincin 
 nati Group of the Lower Silurian period, for a 
 distance of three miles to the north, had been 
 gouged away and the basin thus formed later became 
 filled with the gravels and sifted sands. The cool 
 
 island-like hill. What is now so isolated from the neighboring 
 bluffs was then a peninsula, long, narrow, and high. It was a 
 long turn the little creek then made to join its larger brother ; 
 the high peninsula for a half mile separated them. For cen 
 turies the little stream dug at the barrier. Gently it carved 
 when the bordering trees and shrubs were in leaf and bloom ; 
 but when the melting snows of spring formed floods it tore at 
 the walls of drift-gravels with greater might until its task was 
 done and the high neck of land could no more obstruct its way. 
 Where so long ran the little stream is now the swamp. 
 
38 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 waters of the melting ice of the Glacial Epoch per 
 mitted no abundant life in this lake; a few beds of 
 shell-marl show on the hillsides. As the waters of 
 the ice-fields ran away, the barrier of white sand 
 stone became worn low, and the new-born river 
 carved out its valley. Then began the development 
 of life that culminated in the beauties we now see. 
 As if they had turned the edge of the great plow 
 share, the mounds of rock, almost an old French 
 land league southward from the hill, stand well 
 above the surface of the river valley. One of them 
 drops its sides, a large part of its more than thirty- 
 five feet, almost directly into the river. Beside this, 
 a twin rock rises with rounded sides and summit. 
 The river, diligent and effective as the tooth of 
 time, has cut its way through these hard strata. 
 Before the white man s destructive hand had 
 wrought havoc by taking building material for a 
 dam from the cliff on the eastern shore, a spring 
 flowed from it through a crevice which, for a dis 
 tance, it had eroded wide and high. To this roomy 
 part, extending fifty feet into the rocky ledge, early 
 settlers gave the name Black Hawk s Cave. Why 
 so called we do not know, but we do know that the 
 early settlers held that great warrior in fear, and that 
 Black Hawk, as we shall see, often trod the trail 
 passing the site of then ancient Maramech, and 
 sometimes camped a little less than a short French 
 league from the cave that continued to exist but 
 little longer than he. 
 
 The stone in the massive walls of the old mill and 
 its dam were quarried there, and from this place also 
 has been taken, for two generations, the necessary 
 
One of the twin Rocks, each over an acre in extent, that gave the beautiful river its 
 second name in history, Riviere du Rocher. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 39 
 
 material for lime and other building purposes of the 
 surrounding country and the busy little city near 
 by; enough is left for several cities by no means 
 small. Attractive, because of the beauties of its 
 surroundings and man s love of romance, this mill 
 has been converted into a summer resort; and here 
 gather, for rest or for frolic, the old and the young 
 from the stifling cities. It is but an old story, for 
 here the sun-painted children of many generations 
 played, and lovers sat and sighed beneath the trees 
 upon the mound. 
 
 So prominent are these rocks, each more than an 
 acre in extent, that the beautiful Pestekouy lost its 
 name to be called Riviere du Rocher.* From Mara- 
 mech hill the rock is hidden by a point of bluff, but 
 we can look across the river, up the stream to the 
 east, or down it some distance to the south. The 
 view, in the anniversary month of the great slaugh 
 ter, becomes lost in either direction in the autumn 
 haze; a rapid here and there, not too strong for a 
 light canoe to stem, is all that breaks the surface of 
 the waters that reflect the turning leaves of the 
 maples on either bank. 
 
 Toward the rising sun went, and from the east 
 
 *The Fox River enters the Illinois nine full miles above 
 "The Rock" of La Salle s old fort. I have been informed by 
 French scholars in Paris that the name Rivtire du Rocher 
 could not have been given because of its nearness to the rock 
 upon which La Salle s lieutenant, Tonty, erected his defenses. 
 The name, they told me, bears evidence that it was given 
 because of some characteristic feature along it. After the pass 
 ing away of the buffalo, from which the river took its first 
 known name, no more noticeable feature characterized it than 
 the rounded rocks at Maramech. 
 
40 
 
 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 came hunting parties, parties bent on war and, from 
 time to time, messengers bearing the pipe of peace. 
 Over the great trail, mapped in by Thevenot in 
 1681, and last traveled by the tribe by whose name 
 it was known when came the white man, the Sauk 
 Trail, labored the beasts of burden, urged on by 
 
 les Ma.scouten/s. 
 u Ni.ti.on. du. Feu. 
 
 ort Creuecoeur . * , . 
 te frocher & . j 
 
 imitoui.oa PeorraL 
 
 FRAGMENT OF HENNEPIN S MAP, 1683. SHOWING THE 
 GREAT TRAIL. 
 
 dusky drivers. They came to the trading stations. 
 Such means of transportation we now know little of 
 but in story. Two long poles, connected by thongs 
 to a rude saddle upon horses, their butt ends reaching 
 backward to the ground, and a rude rawhide basket 
 between, formed the only conveyance. Packed 
 with the decrepit and the children or with furs, or 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 41 
 
 both, these vehicles stirred the soil into dust which 
 the winds blew away. The sodless trails were worn 
 deeper as years passed until abandoned by the 
 natives and those who sought their trade. Later 
 came the whites, and where ran the trails there fol 
 lowed the ox-teams of the first settlers who, turning 
 
 THE TRAIL, AS SHOWN BY DE LISLE, 1703. 
 
 to the roadside wherever a location of particular 
 charm was reached, erected cabins and made claims, 
 almost always fronting on the trail. Wherever the 
 boundary lines of the early farms do not correspond 
 with the points of the compass followed by later sur 
 veys, the course of the trail may now be discovered. 
 
42 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 The first stage roads followed the old trails, and 
 some of the public roads that serve the present 
 generation were traveled before America was discov 
 ered by Europeans. Where were fording places in 
 the rivers, there centered the many paths, worn 
 deeply by the hoofs of deer and buffalo, so often 
 mentioned by the many explorers. 
 
 The great east-and-west trail crossed the Peste- 
 kouy at Maramech, while the village existed, and 
 both before and since; and there came also the Kish- 
 waukee Trail, from the swamps of the northwest, 
 over which were brought the furs most sought by the 
 traders. Although I have found but little authority, 
 other than the river courses, I believe that not all of 
 the French goods were brought up the stream to 
 Maramech and the half dozen other towns along the 
 river Pestekouy. Many were brought up from Fort 
 St. Louis, that, from its establishment by La Salle 
 to about 1700, was an entrepot; but much was car 
 ried from the lake near where now is Racine, Wis., 
 to the little lakes where forms the stream. 
 
 In St. Cosme s account of his voyage down the 
 Mississippi river, he speaks of the portage between 
 the head of Root river, that adds its mite to Lake 
 Michigan at Racine, Wis., and the head of the Fox 
 river of Illinois, and of the route he would have 
 taken to reach the Mississippi but for the low water 
 in the rivers at that season of the year. This route, 
 that I have before spoken of as the one taken by the 
 French in bringing goods to Maramech, he calls the 
 river Pistrui, and tells us that it enters the Illinois 
 about twenty-five or thirty leagues from Chikagu. 
 At Maramech many trails met. Over them came 
 
The Kishwaukee trail, worn deep by heavy feet, and feet so light, still scars 
 the Hill. (Photo by the Author. ) 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 43 
 
 visiting tribes and roving bands of hunters. Along 
 the larger creek, where now stands the old mill built 
 of wood, gray in its decay as the miller who catered 
 for years to the needs of the hungry settlers, was an 
 extension of the great village of Maramech. 
 
 The hill, so fatal to the Foxes a generation after 
 it was deserted by the Miamis, rose between the two 
 parts of the town, and hugged the creek so closely 
 that the way from one to the other could only be 
 made by passing over its narrow summit where it 
 droops to little more than half the height of the 
 peak so near, which peak, in times of danger, served 
 the purpose of a lookout. Deeply worn are still the 
 paths that formed the terminus of the Kishwaukee 
 Trail doubly worn by denizens of the divided vil 
 lage of Maramech. 
 
 Leave the modern road near the mill, turn to 
 the right into the pasture and direct your steps to 
 the lowest place in sight; halt when half way up the 
 path, and where you stand moccasined feet trod 
 for generations. So deeply worn the trail, a hun 
 dred years of wash of storm and heaving frost have 
 not defaced it. The few animals pastured there 
 keep the path fresh. How many feet, some weary 
 and others fleet, have passed where now you stand, 
 and rested beneath the trees that shield you from 
 the summer s sun! 
 
 With the long-lapsed years in mind we seem to 
 see canoes passing up the river laden with furs, and 
 coming down with trinkets that have been received 
 in exchange for the hunters harvests. From where 
 the little village of Waukegan dots the shore of 
 Lake Michigan to the headwaters of this river, a 
 
44 
 
 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 m&rut 
 UT.MejR 
 
 trail was long in use by the hunters and traders who 
 gathered the furs of beaver and the skins of the 
 deer and buffalo. 
 
 On an old French map, the author of which is not 
 given, is found laid down the river. At a point 
 nearly due west from where Chicago is situated on 
 Lake Michigan, is placed Saut, the French word for 
 rapid. This leads one to believe that that rapid 
 
 was at the rocky 
 channel where, at 
 and above the 
 mounds that gave 
 the river its sec 
 ond name in his 
 tory, a dam has 
 been built. Pinart, 
 who copied the 
 map, in 1893, 
 from the original 
 in the Depot de 
 la Marine, Paris, 
 says that, al 
 though no date 
 is given, it does 
 not appear that this map was drawn later than 1680. 
 In the Bibliotheque du Depot de la Marine, at 
 Paris, is the accompanying dateless, nameless map 
 that much interests the seeker after certain histor 
 ical knowledge. Parkman credits it to the Jesuits. 
 In this no doubt he is partly right, for on it crosses 
 show the location of many of the early missions 
 founded by that order. Its author is unknown, but 
 I believe it to have been drawn from knowledge 
 
 FRAGMENT OF DATE 
 LESS OLD FRENCH 
 MAP. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 45 
 
 gained from Nicolet, Raddison, Grosseilliers, Per- 
 rot, and Allouez. Parkman believes that it was 
 made subsequent to Joliet s voyage, because the 
 great river is laid down as "Colbert," the name 
 given it, as claimed, by Joliet. Of a score of early 
 maps in my possession, on only three is Colbert 
 given. Joliet gives it "Baude" on one of his, and 
 "River that discharges into the Gulf of Mexico," 
 on two others. Some of the knowledge upon which 
 this anonymous map was founded was gained as early 
 as 1640, for the place of death of Father Mey- 
 nard is shown. The Kankakee, traversed by La 
 Salle in 1679, is not laid down. The map may be 
 as early as 1673, but the Chicago portage is prop 
 erly shown, as it is on Joliet s and Marquette s 
 maps. That it shows the Mississippi river lower 
 than the Arkansas river does not prove that it was 
 drawn later than the true map of Marquette, for he 
 who drew it may have obtained his information 
 from the same source as did Joliet and Marquette, 
 as we find in the latter s journal, in which we read 
 as follows: "We gathered all the knowledge that 
 we were able from savages who had frequented the 
 places, and even traced, from their reports, a map of 
 all the new country; we laid down the rivers we should 
 navigate, the names of the people and the places we 
 should pass, the course of the Great River and the 
 points of the compass [direction] we should take." 
 Many towns are laid down by Marquette that he 
 never saw. The map he drew before starting on 
 the voyage may have been the very one left us. 
 The information given him by the natives was acces 
 sible for many years before 1673. 
 
4 6 
 
 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 The fact that the Falls of St. Anthony (merely 
 written Saut) are shown on the map under consider 
 ation does not prove that the map was made later 
 than the expedition of Michael Acou,"the trader, 
 and Hennepin, the priest, who were sent up the Mis 
 sissippi river by La Salle, because traders had been 
 there before. 
 
 Natives had also brought details that enabled 
 
 sat. 
 
 FRAGMENT OF JOHN ANDREW S MAP OF 1782, ONE OF THE FIRST 
 TO SHOW Fox RIVER AND GIVE ITS PRESENT NAME. 
 
 cartographers to lay down rivers far beyond any 
 point where white men had been. I credit the first 
 knowledge we get of the Pestekuoy River (the Fox 
 river of Illinois) to Allouez, and believe him to 
 have also given those who drew some of the other 
 maps, the knowledge which enabled them to lay 
 down the beautiful river which courses the region so 
 abundant in the gifts of Nature. The lake at its 
 head, the saut^ rapid, (quite likely that where the 
 ruined dam now frets the waters and the old stone 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 47 
 
 mill frowns), and the junction of the river with the 
 Illinois, all show a fair amount of knowledge gained, 
 possibly, as early as 1669-70, when Allouez visited 
 the various tribes around Green Bay and west and 
 south thereof. The tribe that now most interests 
 us is known to have been at the bend of Wolf 
 river in what is now Sugar Bush township, Outaga- 
 mie county, Wisconsin; the Mascoutins are placed 
 
 REPRODUCTION DK CARTES, BY M. SHAFER, IN LENOX LIBRARY, 
 SHOWING THE LOCATION OF THE OUTAGAMY (Fox) VILLAGE. 
 
 on old maps not far from the present site of Waukon, 
 and the Kickapoos near the head of Rock river. 
 . During the sixty years, or more, that Maramech 
 was known to exist by the French, its center shifted, 
 but at what is now known as Sylvan Springs was 
 probably the main council fire. There, in the heavy 
 timber, the wigwams were best sheltered from the 
 winter blasts. The great trees of those days have 
 
48 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 no doubt gone into decay, but the shelter was then 
 as it is now under the newer ones. The tempting 
 shades of the great elm and walnut trees attracted 
 the weary, and the springs along the bluff formed 
 an inexhaustible supply of cool water. Opposite 
 Sylvan Springs, where the corn now grows luxur 
 iantly, were the fields of Maramech. Along the 
 border of the river are a few mounds which mark 
 the last resting-places of the chiefs of an older race 
 that occupied the region long before the Miamis 
 had built the cabins of Maramech. Still down the 
 river, upon the same side, Rob Roy creek adds its 
 mite to the waters of the river. Here, upon a 
 slight elevation, seems to have been, at some time, a 
 nucleus of population, and behind it, upon the slope 
 of the hill, more fragments of pottery have been 
 found than elsewhere, which makes it seem that 
 this, for a time, may have been the "pottery" of 
 the "great village of Maramech." The soil has 
 been turned so many times, during the last thirty 
 years, that potsherds, never too well burned, have 
 crumbled, and where, not many years ago, frag 
 ments were quite abundant, few are now found. 
 Where Big Rock creek adds its coolness to the 
 waters of the river, was another congested position. 
 This we know by the cabin sites, indicated by frag 
 ments of burnt stones. Behind this is a bit of 
 prairie that was, no doubt, under cultivation for 
 years, and along the foot of the hill were places of 
 burial. 
 
Work of the Potters of MaramecL. 
 
.:-.- 
 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 On the bold bluff, up the river and to the east, a 
 mile or more, sleep many of the denizens of Mara- 
 mech. Carefully made graves prove the veneration 
 of the savages for their dead. It seems to have 
 been a poetic inspiration that led to the selection of 
 a spot where the beauties of Nature are so boun 
 teous. Sloping to the sun, the river approaches the 
 foot of the hill. Rushes shed their flossy tresses 
 when stirred by the breezes. The goldenrod and 
 autumn daisies, the only intruders in the yet native 
 sod, the open wood and quiet river make a picture 
 that tempts the artist. No lettered stones mark the 
 places and no owl hoots from bell-tower. These 
 people long ago sought the happy hunting-grounds 
 by way of the grave, and Maramech, like them, is 
 no more. Only their bones and a few potsherds 
 tell the place of either. 
 
 How do we know that they who there sleep were 
 the people of Maramech? La Salle, who spent 
 months at the great Illinois town near Starved 
 Rock, in La Salle county, was successful in uniting 
 the various tribes of Indians, in order to enable 
 them to make a common defense against the Iro- 
 quois. Among these tribes were the Miamis of 
 Maramech, Pepikokias, and Kilatikas. Some were 
 led to settle on Buffalo Rock, a few miles east of 
 Starved Rock, and many had already made their 
 homes along the Pestekouy near by. The branch 
 
 49 
 
LOST MARAMECH 
 
 From M*p of 
 
 Louisiana , C&n&c 
 
 ? LENOX LIBRARY 
 
 1718. 
 
 of the Miamis that remained at Maramech received 
 from the French traders the goods, useful and orna 
 mental, which they needed. In their graves have 
 been found beautiful fabrics. Among the finest 
 
 were fragments of 
 a broadcloth robe, 
 thickly beset with 
 silver buckles 
 the size of a 
 dime. Rouge and 
 "cheap-John" ar 
 ticles of various 
 kinds have repaid 
 the efforts of cu 
 riosity seekers. A finely wrought bullet-mould cut 
 from a bit of argillaceous shale, gives proof of 
 skillful workmanship. Two parts, with a half sphere 
 worked in each, an opening formed between the 
 two into which the molten lead was poured, and 
 grooves at the ends and sides in which the string 
 binding might lie, served a purpose equal to the 
 best bullet-mould of the gunsmith of to-day. 
 
 No stones mark the graves, and the slight 
 depressions visible forty years ago have become 
 filled with sediment so that the exact places of 
 sepulture are only made known when, for pelf, the 
 gravel of this hillside is carted away. The frag 
 ments of bark, now nearly dust, show the winding 
 sheet to have been taken from the giant trees then 
 near by. I have before me a fragmentary skull of 
 one of the people of Maramech. If it had a 
 tongue we know it might tell much; that it would 
 tell us of the brighter side of life is evidenced by the 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 51 
 
 teeth, as little worn and white as those of the dandy 
 of to-day; and there is no evidence that they 
 required the care of a dentist. The wisdom tooth 
 shows maturity and, if of a male, as seems probable, 
 we might hear the story of the first visit of the 
 Frenchmen; of the wars made by the Iroquois, or of 
 the raids, in turn, against the warlike Five Nations. 
 The green stain upon the jaw-bone tells of a cheap 
 necklace, bought of the French traders. This skull, 
 finely formed, speaks of the brain of a man of intel 
 ligence. Unlettered though its possessor, he may 
 have swayed the multitude in council. His eloquent 
 tongue and logical reasoning, for which the red man 
 was ever noted, may have equaled that of Tecumseh 
 or Red Jacket. He may, in fact, have been one of 
 the chiefs of the "Great Village of Maramech." 
 
 From a cabin, in the shade of the overhanging 
 trees that border the beautiful Pestekouy, we seem 
 to see a bier borne by braves, on which, wrapped in 
 his robes of fur, lies the conquered warrior. Ten 
 derly his clay is laid in the dugout, hewn from a 
 great tree trunk, in which, at bow and stern, kneel 
 the ones whose chosen duty it is to row it o er the 
 rippling river. In cadence with the dipping paddles 
 are mournful songs and dirges sung. The cortege 
 passes the low island and onward to the green hill 
 side, bared to the sun, where waits the new-made 
 grave. 
 
 When the spirit departed on its long journey to 
 the happy hunting-grounds, the erstwhile owner of 
 this fragment was wept. With this fragment was 
 found a piece of the bone of the buffalo which, when 
 covered with flesh, had been placed with the body 
 
52 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 to sustain the spirit on its long way. Rude though 
 the coffin, it was of hewn walnut, that wood so 
 prized to-day. No hearse was trundled over pave 
 ment stones, but a pageant, bowed with grief, carried 
 the body to its resting-place on an impromptu bier. 
 Loving hands wrapped the remains in the furs and 
 blankets, and there placed the ornaments the spirits 
 of which were expected to adorn the departed soul. 
 We do not know what thoughts prompted the burial 
 of possessions with the body; perhaps it was in 
 accordance with the beliefs of many tribes that ani 
 mals and material things have souls. The dog was 
 buried with its master to serve him in the new 
 hunting-grounds. A kettle was broken and buried 
 there so that, also being dead, its soul might be 
 valuable to the departed. 
 
 If this fragment that formed the brain cavity could 
 talk it might tell us of the war dance, of the corn 
 festival and of the sugar making. It might tell us 
 of the many industries. I seem to hear it speak of 
 the mortar scooped in a log, and of the women, 
 young and fair, pounding corn for the sagamite, 
 while admiring warriors are lounging near. The 
 little metate* I found near the spring, little more than 
 a brick in size, slightly hollowed upon one side, 
 served to grind the nuts that seasoned the mess of 
 pottage. This shattered skull might tell of the 
 weavers of buffalo wool, busy at the primitive 
 looms, and the potters, their clay tempered with 
 crushed granite, forming the vessels we now find 
 only in pieces. 
 
 * A hollowed stone on which, with another stone, corn, nuts 
 and grain were crushed or ground. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 53 
 
 In their day-dreams the loved ones, whom the 
 departed had left behind, watched the soul on its 
 way to the happy hunting-grounds. On and on they 
 seemed to see him wander, with faithful dog that 
 mocked his every turn. Where shades of summer 
 trees, clambering vines and carpets of the softest 
 mosses tempted him, he took his frequent rests. 
 The pleasing thoughts of the watching loved ones, 
 inspired by his progress, were dispelled by visions 
 in which dream-clad feet outstripped him and they 
 saw, far before him, the rapid river he must cross or 
 his soul perish. The slender fallen tree, laid by the 
 Great Spirit, reaching from shore to shore and 
 shaken by the rapid waters that swirled around its 
 immersed branches, was yet to test his courage. 
 While in the flesh he had no dread of wars. For 
 years his scalp had been a freely-offered prize to 
 any one of other tribes with courage and of strength 
 to take it; but at last he cowered. Many passed 
 before him, but others failed. The weaker souls 
 fell to be swept into an unconscious eternity. Those 
 left by him on this mortal shore feared, in dreams 
 of night, and hoped in their dreams of waking hours, 
 as love only can, and longed to see him reach the 
 land of sun and everlasting flowers that, bounded by 
 the lisping waters of the quiet western sea, should 
 be to him a place of rest as long as stars should gem 
 the great white river overhead. He reached the 
 swaying bridge and was appalled, but go he must. 
 The beckoning hands on the other shore of eternity, 
 and the words of inspiration, spurred him to his 
 utmost and, with halting steps and snail-like prog 
 ress, his long journey found its end; so, too, did that 
 
54 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 of his faithful pet and slave that, trembling in every 
 limb upon the frail bridge, dogged his steps. 
 
 Tis ever thus with cultured and with savage 
 minds. In their waking dreams was the vision of 
 tireless Love and Lagging Hope, hand in hand, 
 leading the soul of the late departed. When came 
 the visions of the night despair oft cast a spell whose 
 shudder woke the dreamer to again be cheered by 
 Hope. 
 
 The central village, in 1684, was estimated to have 
 one hundred and fifty warriors, which meant a popu 
 lation of about seven hundred and fifty; but the 
 town had many near neighbors that were occupied 
 by branches of the Miami nation. Although the 
 various Algonquin tribes were from time to time at 
 war, they were also often at peace, and then they 
 mingled freely. Upon the first visit of the coureurs 
 du bois to Green Bay, it may have been, that the 
 Miamis and Illinois met by them came direct from the 
 village of Maramech. We know that these people 
 told the traders of the richness of their country, and 
 we know that Maramech was the most important 
 town near Green Bay, unless "Chicagou" had 
 already become permanently peopled by that tribe. 
 
 In imagination we may spend a night in Mara 
 mech. The winds of approaching winter are [whis 
 tling through the maples. The weary hunter has 
 returned from the slough, the haunt of the mallard 
 duck, with the result of his day s efforts, including, 
 perhaps, a wild goose from a belated flock. He 
 heard their clanking cry, "go look," and sought 
 them where he had seen them drop in the rushes 
 for rest after a long southward flight. He enters 
 
Relics of the Miller of Maramech 
 and his Mill. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 55 
 
 his cabin and throws down the game; but few words 
 disturb or welcome him. A mat is spread before 
 the fire, and his good wife brings a bowl of soup to 
 refresh him and then prepares a hearty meal. A 
 duck is dressed, cut into small pieces and partially 
 cooked; then cornmeal is stirred in and, when all is 
 done, the favorite dish of the Indian tribes, saga- 
 mite seasoned with meats, is placed before the 
 hungry huntsman. While the meal is being prepared 
 the children are at play, but their noise is hushed, 
 for nothing must disturb the returned master of the 
 cabin, who needs rest. After the repast and his 
 smoke, he then addresses whomsoever he wishes 
 and from that time all are at liberty to speak to 
 him; he has been refreshed, is rested and is again as 
 one of the family. He tells of the adventures of 
 the day; his wife, in turn, tells him of the little 
 incidents that occurred during his absence. She 
 removes her kettles, replenishes the fire, and all the 
 children gather around. The father repeats a stereo 
 typed folk-lore tale for the children and the story 
 that he heard from an Iroquois captive: 
 
 "There was once a hermit called The Long- 
 Haired, whose memory is still held in veneration. 
 During his time the village where he was born was 
 attacked by a great mortality that took away the 
 principal men, one dying after another. Every 
 night a bird of ill-omen flew over the cabins, flap 
 ping its wings with a great noise and putting forth 
 sad cries that aroused the fears of all. No one 
 doubted this was the Oiaron, or beast that caused 
 the plague; but no one knew from whence the harm 
 came. In this terrible extremity the council of old 
 
5 6 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 men deputized three of the most able ones to pray 
 to The Long-Haired to have pity and aid them; his 
 condition did not permit him to quit his retreat; 
 besides, he never would condescend to come to the 
 village. He gave the deputies permission to come 
 to him, however, to learn his last resolution. 
 They came at the appointed time, and the hermit 
 showed them three arrows he had made in their 
 absence, and without communicating anything of 
 his design he said he only requested them to exam 
 ine the arrows in order to be able to recognize 
 them. That evening, toward sunset, The Long- 
 Haired went to his ambuscade on a little hill that 
 was near the village. The bird came out of the 
 trunk of a tree at dusk, spread his wings as usual 
 and named distinctly some of the principal men 
 that he had destined to die the next day. When 
 the hermit perceived the bird he advanced slyly, 
 shot him with one of his arrows and retired, sure of 
 having wounded the bird of ill-omen. The day 
 following the news spread in the village that a cer 
 tain young man, who was alone in a poor cabin with 
 a woman, was very sick. The old men, attentive to 
 all that passed, sent to visit him secretly, as with 
 out design, the three deputies who had been to see 
 The Long-Haired. The sick man was too much 
 pressed by his disability to be able to dissimulate. 
 An arrow had entered his side. The arrow of the 
 hermit was recognized. Secret instructions had 
 been given to those who came to treat the afflicted 
 one and, in their efforts ostensibly to pull the arrow 
 from the wound, they directed it in such a way as 
 to pierce the heart of the wounded man. The old 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 57 
 
 woman, yet more culpable than her son, was igno 
 rant of the source from whence the stroke had come, 
 but perceived well what the old men had done. 
 She, being a woman, had not the humor to belie her 
 sex, and sought vengeance. She resolved to kill 
 the hermit as her first victim; but her crime was not 
 conducted with much secrecy. In spite of her 
 different changes of form, she was discovered. 
 They burned her with all the refinement of cruelty 
 of the Iroquois. She confessed that her son, being 
 irritated, had wished to avenge himself on one who, 
 returning from the hunt, had neglected to include 
 him in the distribution of the game. She sustained 
 the torments of the fire in laughing at and insulting 
 her tormentors. After her death the plague recom 
 menced. The sorcerers being consulted, responded 
 that the unfortunate old woman was the cause; that 
 she had been changed to the marmot which had been 
 her mascot during her life. On seeing that it 
 retired to a den at the foot of a hill where her son 
 had changed his form, and had been wounded, fire 
 was at once applied and smoke having forced it to 
 come out, it was killed. A monument was erected 
 at the entrance of the den to testify to the truth of 
 the story." 
 
 The story of Wa-sa-ri was then told: 
 
 "Once upon a time, in a stream, there lived a 
 bullhead and his family. The old one said one 
 day: Oh, I am so hungry; I must go out and find 
 something to eat; I will go and see what I can 
 find. He wiggled his way up stream and he saw 
 the tops of the bushes that grew on the bank 
 waving occasionally, and knew what it meant, He 
 
58 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 swam to that side of the stream and raised^his head 
 out of the water and rested it upon a rock and 
 began to sing in a half-monotonous way and in a 
 piping voice, 
 
 
 ~~1 1 
 
 I 1 
 
 
 We - sha - wa - wi - ni kasb - kash - kash. 
 
 [The horns of the elk are utterly useless.] 
 
 "This derisive song annoyed the elk and he came 
 to the bank to see who was taunting him. Seeing 
 the bullhead, he said to him: You little fool, if 
 you don t stop singing that song I will come in and 
 kick you out of the water and on that bank where 
 you will die. But the bullhead, smiling, kept on 
 singing until in plunged the elk and repeated his 
 command; but still the bullhead s squeaking voice 
 was heard, We-sha-wa-wi-ni kash-kash-kash. The 
 elk turned to kick, but the bullhead swam clear of 
 his heels; turning on him the elk again kicked, but 
 the bullhead wiggled out of danger. This was 
 repeated until the elk became exhausted. Then 
 the bullhead wiggled his way cautiously and pierced 
 the cord of one of the heels of the elk with one of 
 his spines and in that way disabled that leg, so that 
 one hip went down. The elk floundered, but the 
 bullhead quickly stung the other heel and the hind 
 quarters of the elk sank into the water. The bull 
 head next stung the front legs and the elk fell help 
 less. No further danger; the bullhead stung the elk 
 to death. Then the bullhead invited all of his chil 
 dren and friends to the feast, but before beginning 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 59 
 
 to eat they raised their heads out of the water and 
 with a squeaking voice sang: We-sha-wa-wi-ni 
 kash-kash-kash. " 
 
 Then the uncle filled his pipe, puffed awhile, 
 and told the story of the ducks: 
 
 "One time Wi-sa-ka was walking along the shore 
 of a lake and, being hungry, wondered where and 
 how he could get something to eat. Soon after he 
 saw his younger brothers, the ducks, that were flap 
 ping their wings and quacking. Oh! I now know 
 what to do, he said. I am going to catch those 
 fellows over there. So he pulled some long reeds 
 and, getting a big bundle of them, put them on his 
 shoulders and, as if bent under a heavy load, went 
 walking along the lake within sight of his younger 
 brothers. The ducks soon saw him and said to one 
 another, There goes Wi-sa-ka, our elder brother; I 
 wonder what he has on his shoulders/ Oh, Wi- 
 sa-ka, they called, stop, wait, we want to see you; 
 where are you going? What is that you have on 
 your shoulders? Tell us what it is. And thus they 
 called, but Wi-sa-ka paid no attention to them until 
 he came to a good place to sit down; then he turned 
 around and made believe that he had just heard 
 them for the first time. Oh, is that you, my young 
 brothers, calling to me? he said. Well, hurry up 
 and tell me what you want, for I have a long journey 
 before me. What is that you have on your shoul 
 ders? they asked. Oh, I cannot tell you, he 
 replied. Do tell us, they said, we will do any 
 thing you ask us to. He replied, Well, if you 
 must know, they are songs. They said, Let one 
 sing to us. Well, one shall sing if you will dance 
 
60 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 forme. All right, they said, and came waddling 
 along, single file, and took their places before him. 
 Now, he said, you must dance hard; I have a lot 
 of songs here but will use but one, for I have a long 
 journey before me. When you dance you must shut 
 both your eyes, he said, and began to beat time 
 with one of the reeds, and the reed began to sing 
 and Wi-sa-ka sang with it. Shut your eyes, he 
 said, and don t open them; the one that opens his 
 eyes will make them turn red. Dance hard, dance 
 hard/ he shouted, and away they danced, their 
 beaks pointed skyward. Bunch up! Bunch up! 
 The best part of the song is yet to come! This he 
 said and kept singing as he untied the string of his 
 bow and made a slip-noose to throw over their 
 heads. Just as he tightened the noose mud-hen 
 ducked, for all the while she had been watching 
 Wi-sa-ka and seeing what he had been doing. Fly 
 away, fly away, she cried, he is going to catch us. 
 As mud-hen ducked her head, Wi-sa-ka pulled tight 
 the noose and caught all of the ducks and ruffled up 
 the top-feathers of mud-hen. Away she flew into 
 the lake, and as she hit the water Wi-sa-ka shouted 
 at her, Ho! her top-feathers still standing up, and 
 as he shouted his forceful breath turned the top- 
 feathers farther forward, and such a head she has 
 had ever since. And the red eyes she has were 
 made so by straining to see what Wi-sa-ka was 
 doing. 
 
 "Wi-sa-ka gathered his ducks and went over the 
 hill and there he built a fire. He soon made a big 
 heap of coals and ashes. Here is where I am 
 going to cook my ducks, he said, and I will sleep 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 61 
 
 while they are cooking. When I have had my sleep 
 out, I will get up and eat. So he covered his ducks 
 in the hot ashes and coals, leaving only their feet 
 sticking out, and then lay down to sleep. By and 
 by some foxes got a smell of the cooking ducks. 
 Hello, they said, it is something good; let us fol 
 low up and see what it is, 1 and away they trotted. 
 Coming near the fire they saw something sleeping 
 there, and presently they saw that it was Wi-sa-ka. 
 You go there, said one to the other, and find out 
 what there is so good. No, you go, said one to 
 the other. Finally one plucked up courage and 
 went over, and as he came near the fire Wi-sa-ka 
 rolled over. Away ran the fox as fast as he could 
 go. He is awake, said he. No, he is not/ said 
 his friend. Then back the fox went, and when he 
 got there he saw what was in the bed of ashes and 
 coals, and motioned to his friend to come. They 
 pulled out the ducks and bit off their feet and made 
 up the heap of coals and ashes as before, and stuck 
 the ducks feet back as they had found them. Away 
 they then went with the ducks. By and by Wi-sa- 
 ka awoke and took his time in getting up. Now I 
 am going to have something good to eat, he said. 
 My ducks should be well cooked by this time. He 
 slowly poked the ashes away, but all he found was 
 the feet sticking out. Well, I slept too long for 
 this duck; it is all cooked away. Then he poked 
 the ashes away from another place. Again he only 
 found the feet sticking out. Then he got upon his 
 feet and began to suspect something. By the time 
 he had pulled the ashes away from another place he 
 was sure that something had taken his ducks. He 
 
62 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 looked carefully and saw tracks all around in the 
 ashes and then he knew what had become of his 
 ducks. As he started after the thieves he heard 
 what seemed to be a voice overhead saying, Neg-ya, 
 Neg-ya [the word which the sound seemed to imi 
 tate meaning my mother in the Algonquin tongue]. 
 Oh, he said, my mother died long ago. But the 
 voice kept on saying, Neg-ya, Neg-ya, and as he 
 looked up over his shoulder he saw two branches of a 
 tree rubbing against each other as the wind moved 
 them. He jumped up to pull the branches apart to 
 stop the irritating sounds. At that moment a gust 
 of wind came by and forced the branches apart and 
 then let them come together again, catching Wi-sa- 
 ka s hands between, and there he hung while he 
 beheld the foxes eating his ducks. They taunted 
 him by telling him how good they were. When 
 they had finished the last one they trotted away, and 
 only then came another gust of wind that blew the 
 branches apart enough to release Wi-sa-ka s bruised 
 fingers. " 
 
 The crimson leaves of the maples made the story 
 of those who chased the bear an appropriate one. 
 
 "Three Foxes went hunting, a long time ago. 
 They had a little dog with them. It was the time 
 of the first snowfall. By and by they struck the 
 trail of a bear. The trail went up a hill. They fol 
 lowed the trail, the little dog leading. As they 
 went along they saw the trail leading up to a sumac 
 thicket. At first the tops of the sumac were waving 
 to and fro, and then they became still. Presently 
 the bear stuck his head out and saw the hunters 
 coming. At that he withdrew. The hunter in the 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 63 
 
 lead ran around to the other side to head him off.* 
 Then another hunter ran around to the north, and 
 the other to the south. Every time the bear ran 
 out there was a hunter there to head him off and 
 drive him back. This kept the hunters running 
 round and round the thicket. By and by they 
 wounded the bear with an arrow, and away he ran, 
 the hunters after him. They flung away their bows 
 
 and arrows and, with the arrow in his wound, away 
 the bear ran, the hunters after him. They pulled 
 out their knives to grapple with him and slay him. 
 They were a long time in dispatching the bear. By 
 and by one of the men, the one in the rear, stopped 
 and looked all around him, and saw that he was in 
 
 *Evidently the bear was pulling the tops of the bushes down 
 to eat the "bobs." but to stop to explain to the listeners, who 
 are supposed to know things so common, would interrupt the 
 flow of the story, and to interrupt to the extent of asking a 
 question is not allowed. 
 
64 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 a strange place. On looking he saw, way down 
 there below, the earth all green, the little lodges 
 and little people, and rivers and their windings. 
 Then he called to the man ahead: Ma-ta-pye, hold 
 on! we are going into the sky; but Ma-ta-pye paid 
 no attention, neither did Wa-pa-na-shi-wa, who was 
 pressing the bear hard. So finding that his com 
 panions paid no heed, he continued the chase, and 
 all followed the bear all winter, all the spring, and 
 all the summer, and overtook him in the fall, when 
 they butchered the bear. They placed the meat on 
 sumac leaves and then they began to throw the 
 various parts of the bear away. The head they 
 threw to the south, and there are the stars that lie 
 together.* The backbone they threw to the east, 
 and this is the cluster of stars that one sees early in 
 a winter morning, and thus they did with all other 
 parts of the bear. Wherever the parts were thrown, 
 there was a cluster of stars. But no sooner was this 
 done than the bear was on his feet and in flight, and 
 so the hunters were soon in pursuit again. They 
 followed through winter, spring, and summer, and 
 in the fall they overtook him. There is a time in 
 the fall when the sumac leaves are bright red, and 
 that is the time that these celestial hunters each 
 year overtake the bear. The drops of blood from 
 the bear s meat fall on the sumac leaves and stain 
 them red; and the blood also stains the leaves of 
 other plants and trees. That is why things change 
 their colors in the fall. The hunters and the bear 
 can be seen at night by looking at the northern 
 
 *This is what is popularly called the little dipper. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 65 
 
 sky they and their little dog are pursuing the 
 bear."* 
 
 This fairy tale must have originated since the 
 coming of Europeans, as the location of the Bear 
 indicates that, through the Jesuits or educated per 
 sons among the traders, the author of the tale places 
 the Bear where ancient astronomers put him. 
 
 The winds of late autumn whistled in the maples, 
 but the bark cabins, roofed with rush mats, were 
 proof against all weather. All were now ready for 
 sleep. The little ones first sought their blankets. 
 The dogs, unconsciously fattening for the feast of 
 welcome to the first visitor to come, were curled up 
 by the fire. Wood for the morning was in readi 
 ness. Arranging the fire to keep the cabin warm 
 during the night, the wife and mother was last to 
 retire. Few were the cares. Faith in the warrior s 
 bravery, and ability to provide from day to day, per 
 mitted all to sleep. The warrior s head lay easy, 
 for he wore not the crown of wealth. No stocks 
 were wavering in the balance; managing no corner 
 in corn and pulling no political wires, he slept only 
 to awaken with the rising sun. 
 
 That the town was a metropolis is known by the 
 fact that of the relics some were from distant 
 regions. Tobacco pipes, cut from the red pipe- 
 stones of Minnesota, have been found; arrow-heads 
 of a variety of flint not known in the region are com 
 mon. The corn raised along the river bottom was 
 traded to the prairie tribes who lived mainly by 
 
 *Keen must have been the eyes of the author of this bit of 
 Indian lore, for the little star at the break of the handle of the 
 great dipper is hardly visible to the unassisted sight. 
 
66 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 hunting. The traffic carried on by the French at 
 Fort St. Louis was in part, no doubt, by water along 
 Fox river. Early maps show the river to have but 
 one rapid worth locating and that evidently near 
 where Maramech is placed on later maps. Between 
 Maramech and the Waukegan portage the river 
 Pestekouy, now called Fox river, served as a water 
 way for light canoes. Skins of the buffalo, the 
 bear, and other fur-bearing animals were taken to 
 the lake and thence to Montreal. From Maramech 
 southward the traffic was mostly carried on by 
 canoes hewn from logs; thus the "dugout," as well 
 as the birch-bark canoe, on this stream showed the 
 skill of their makers. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 The commerce between Maramech and the other 
 Indian towns not on the Pestekouy was carried on 
 over the trails. The alleged map of Marquette 
 shows many places and things never seen by Joliet 
 and him. In the map copied and published by 
 Thevenot in 1681 (see page 27, of this volume), a 
 trail was laid down from the Mississippi river, near 
 Rock Island, to the great Indian town on the Illi 
 nois river. Another trail is laid along the Fox river 
 of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin river, called Che- 
 min d Altie, meaning "route of going." The line 
 from Rock Island to the Illinois river is lettered 
 Chemin de Retour, meaning "route of return." This 
 route of return passing, as in fact it did, through 
 Maramech, has since been known as the Sauk 
 and Fox Trail, so called because later passing 
 through the great Sauk and Fox town, Sauke- 
 nuk, at the mouth of the Rock river, and eastward 
 near Wolf lake and the southern extremity of Lake 
 Michigan, and on to Maiden in Canada, at the 
 mouth of Detroit river, where the "British Father" 
 supplied the wants of the Sac and Fox nations, 
 among others; it was traveled by what was known 
 as the "British Band" of Foxes, both before and 
 after the war of 1812. This great trail was worn so 
 deeply that, although the plow for a half century has 
 turned the soil, it is not yet wholly obliterated. 
 That trail connected Lake Michigan with the Mis- 
 
 67 
 
68 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 sissippi river at the point of nearest approach, and 
 Maramech was as a half-way house. 
 
 From the great Illinois town opposite Starved 
 Rock, in La Salle county, along the north side of 
 the river, ran a trail over one of the great prairies, 
 five of which approach each other at Maramech. 
 From where is now the busy city of Ottawa, along 
 the west side of the river Pestekouy, another trail 
 passed near or through Maramech, and then turned 
 to the Miami town of Chicagou. From Maramech 
 along the east side of the beautiful Pestekouy ran 
 the trail that connected the various villages located 
 along the river. 
 
 In July, 1682, La Salle went part way on foot from 
 Peoria Lake to Lake Michigan. He undoubtedly 
 took the trail that passed through Maramech. The 
 other towns along the river were seen by him, or at 
 least were made known to him, for he soon passed 
 on to Montreal and gave to Franquelin the infor 
 mation that enabled him to map in the section of 
 country around Maramech. (Margry, Vol. I., p. 
 569.) Henri de Tonty, the faithful lieutenant of La 
 Salle, later in the same month passed by land from 
 Fort St. Louis, on Starved Rock, to Chicagou. 
 (Margry, Vol. I., p. 612.) A long day s journey 
 took them to Maramech. In the autumn of 1687 
 Joutel, Cavalier (La Salle s brother), and others 
 reached Fort St. Louis on their weary journey from 
 the fated colony in Texas, in haste to get to France 
 to urge that aid be sent to the colony last estab 
 lished by La Salle. They struck out for the lake of 
 the Illinois (Michigan), there to embark for Canada, 
 in time to take the vessel bound for France. The 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 69 
 
 journey was "painful and fruitless," for, having 
 gone to the banks of the lake in very foul weather, 
 after waiting there for five days for the sky to clear, 
 they embarked, notwithstanding the storm, but 
 were obliged to put to shore again at the place of 
 embarkation. They returned, on foot, to Fort St. 
 Louis on the seventh day of October. Twice, then, 
 they passed over the trail between Fort ^St. Louis 
 and Chicagou, and undoubtedly through the village 
 of Maramech. In December of the same year two 
 Frenchmen arrived at Fort St. Louis and gave notice 
 to Tonty that three canoes, laden with merchandise, 
 powder, ball, and various other things, had arrived 
 at Chicagou; that there being too little water in the 
 Des Plaines river, and what there was being frozen, 
 they could not come nearer. It thus became neces 
 sary to send carriers to bring the goods upon their 
 backs. Tonty requested the chief of the Shawnees 
 to furnish him with people for the purpose. That 
 chief accordingly provided forty, men as well as 
 women, who set out with some of the Frenchmen. 
 The honesty of the Shawnees was the reason Tonty 
 had for preferring them over the Illinois, who had 
 the reputation of being thieves. Empty-handed the 
 troop took the trail and spent the first night, it 
 seems probable, at Maramech. Two more days of 
 travel, of twenty-five miles each, brought them to 
 Chicagou. Each heavily laden, the return journey 
 was more slow, and at the end of about the third 
 day the loads were laid aside at Maramech and 
 the hospitality of the Miamis, then at peace with the 
 Shawnees, was partaken of. Of the fatigue of the 
 journey we are not told, but we have often expe- 
 
70 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 rienced the winters of this region. The abundance 
 of fuel made the nights endurable, and with the 
 presence of the visitors the wigwams of the natives 
 became scenes of festivities. The dance of wel 
 come, to the music of the flute, accompanied by 
 songs and folk-lore tales, made the night more a 
 season of pleasure than of rest; old friendships were 
 renewed and new acquaintances made. 
 
 So important to the French was the region that a 
 representative of the crown was kept at Maramech 
 and in its vicinity in the interest of trade and to 
 keep the tribes united against the Iroquois. The 
 French believed that, should the western country 
 become possessed by the latter tribe, the trade of 
 the west, and largely that of the Great Lakes, would 
 be diverted to the English. Of greatest service 
 was Nicholas Perrot. Of him we read: 
 
 "In addition to these officers" (referring to Tonty 
 and others) "who have each their stations fixed, the 
 man named Perrot is to occupy one in the imme 
 diate neighborhood of the Miamis, in order to exe 
 cute whatever will be ordered him. This place is 
 called Malamet, and the great concourse of Indians 
 who repair thither, among whom this man possesses 
 a great amount of credit, induced the Count to 
 select him to be stationed between the Miamis and 
 other tribes who might receive advances from the 
 English."* 
 
 The main body of the Miamis was on the river 
 
 *A footnote found in the N. Y. Col. Docs., IX., 570, states 
 that by Malamet the Kalamazoo river of Michigan is meant. 
 The location of the "great village of Marameck," has not been 
 known by historians. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 71 
 
 St. Joseph, where is now South Bend, Indiana. 
 The "other tribes who might receive advances from 
 the English" were the Foxes, Sacs, Mascoutins, 
 and others of Wisconsin. The English had tried to 
 reach them by way of the Straits and also by way of 
 the Ohio. To have been between the Miamis and 
 these tribes, it is seen, they could not have been on 
 the Kalamazoo. 
 
 On no map of the time is there laid down a large 
 town on the Maramea (the Kalamazoo river of 
 Michigan), and there is nothing to indicate that any 
 thing more was intended or attempted by travelers 
 than to mark the location of a river, on their maps, 
 and give its name. In what is quoted above we find 
 the words, "This place is called Malamet. " I think 
 the compiler of the document, to which he added 
 the footnote, was mistaken, for a river cannot be 
 referred to as a "place" nor as a "station." It 
 is known that at this time the Miamis occupied a 
 great area. La Salle collected many of them in 
 1683 and he named some of the various branches of 
 the tribe, particularly the Peanghichias (Pianke- 
 shaws), Pepikokias, and Kilaticas. On Franquelin s 
 map of 1684, in the "Colony du Sr. de La Salle," 
 between the Pestekouy and the Illinois rivers, the 
 Pepikokias are located. They were also a branch 
 of the Miamis, Perrot tells us. (See map of 1684.) 
 
 Can the Governor have meant a river when refer 
 ring to the "chiefs of the great village" of "Mara- 
 mek"? When speaking to the Miamis of the place 
 he called "Malamet," did he also mean a river? 
 He also speaks of "other" chiefs there. Now, there 
 is no group of towns located on any of the early 
 
72 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 maps on the Kalamazoo river of Michigan, but on 
 nearly all, Maramech, on the Pestekouy (the Fox 
 river of Illinois), is laid down; and on that river is a 
 group of towns. 
 
 Beckwith, in his The Illinois and Indiana Indians, 
 says that the Governor of New France "requested 
 the Miami s of the Pepikokia band, who resided 
 upon the Maramek (Kalamazoo river in Michigan) 
 to remove and join their tribe located on the river 
 St. Joseph of Lake Michigan." In the quotation 
 last above given, it is noticed that the Governor 
 wished them to be nearer to him; but the fact that 
 any point on the Kalamazoo river of Michigan was 
 as near the French seat of power as any point on 
 the river St. Joseph shows that he had some more 
 distant place in mind, and the fact that he sent 
 Perrot to a place called "Malamet" between the 
 Miamis and the western tribes, and thus prevented 
 the Iroquois from having communication with the 
 western tribes, also shows that the place could not 
 have been on the Kalamazoo river in Michigan, for 
 there were no important towns of western tribes on 
 or near the Kalamazoo; but on the other side of 
 Lake Michigan were all of the tribes of northern 
 Illinois and Wisconsin, including the Sacs, Foxes, 
 Mascoutins, Kickapoos, and Pottawatomies. 
 
 Maramech, on the Pestekouy river, was a center 
 of population and, being between the Miamis of St. 
 Joseph and the western tribes, who the Governor 
 feared would be influenced by the Iroquois, it is 
 clear that it was there that the Governor sent Perrot. 
 The French trinkets, bullet-moulds, gun-flints, and 
 finery in the graves on the hills of Maramech lead 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 73 
 
 to the belief that the village probably was something 
 of a trading-post. Beckwith further states that 
 "Nicholas Perrot had been commissioned to lead 
 the Maramek bands to the river St. Joseph," and 
 that "he would have been burned had it not been 
 for the interference of the Foxes." Now, the 
 Foxes were found all over the country west of Lake 
 Michigan, from time to time, but their home was in 
 the central part of Wisconsin, and their hunting- 
 grounds extended far into the present state of Illi 
 nois; they often invaded the hunting-grounds of the 
 Illinois tribes. 
 
 A council was held with the western Indians, 
 among whom were Miamis. In one of his addresses 
 to this body, when brought to him, the Governor 
 said: "As for you, Na-nan-gous-sis-ta and Ma-ci- 
 ton-ga, Miamis of Maramek, you are the chiefs of 
 the great village, and I believe that you have visited 
 me only with the consent of all the other chiefs 
 there. I will believe as you say, that you have no 
 other will than mine. Perrot told you that you must 
 remove your fires from Maramek and unite with the 
 rest of the Miamis in a place where you could 
 oppose the enemy, and make war on him. I think 
 only of the repose of my children. ... I will not 
 believe that the Miamis wish to obey me until they 
 make altogether one and the same fire, either at the 
 river St. Joseph or some other place adjoining." 
 Any place on the Kalamazoo would have practically 
 adjoined the river St. Joseph, and if Perrot was at 
 the river Maramek of Michigan, he was out of the 
 natural path of the Foxes; but if it was at Maramech 
 on the Pestekouy, he was very near the Foxes 
 
74 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 hunting-grounds. It seems that Beckwith must 
 have got his information from the New York Colonial 
 Documents, where O Callaghan makes the mistake, 
 found in the footnote, by saying that the "Malamet" 
 referred to was the Maramek river of Michigan.* 
 
 On page 61, Vol. X., Wisconsin Historical Collec 
 tions, the same mistake is made, and it seems prob 
 able that Professor Butler, the writer of the article, 
 also gathered his information from the New York 
 Colonial Documents and located Maramech on the 
 east coast of Lake Michigan, between the Black and 
 Grand rivers. It seems to me a foregone conclusion 
 that Perrot will be found to have been located at Mar 
 amech, the village of the maps, "the great village" 
 of Maramech, of which I have written. 
 
 In a report of 1694 and 1695, ^ ^ s sa id that "Mes- 
 si-ton-ga, " a "Miami of Maramek," in a speech 
 delivered at the great conference, "complained that 
 the Miamis of the river St. Joseph rescued by force 
 from us and spared the lives of the Iroquois prison- 
 
 *Charlevoix and his map of 1744 were the authorities most 
 depended upon by historians for many years. His map shows 
 fourteen rivers cutting the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, and 
 but three the western. He did not visit the western shore, to 
 be sure, but a score of earlier maps would have informed him 
 fully in regard to the many rivers, towns, and trails long 
 known. Charlevoix was a Jesuit, and he, like others of that 
 order, ignored the discoveries made by those not in sympathy 
 with the Jesuits. Had he consulted Franquelin s map of 
 sixty years previous, he could have shown the "Colonie du Sr. 
 de La Salle," including the "great village of Maramech. " But 
 the discoveries of that region were made by La Salle, who hated 
 the Jesuits, justly it seems, and by his companions who were 
 ministered to only by Recolets, whom the Jesuits gave little 
 credit 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 75 
 
 ers we were bringing home." (N. Y. Col. Doc., Vol. 
 IX., p. 621.) If the Miamis of "Maramek" had 
 been on the Kalamazoo river, they would never 
 have passed by the Miamis of the village on the St. 
 Joseph, for such a route would have been at least 
 fifty miles longer than one leading direct from the 
 Iroquois country to any point on the Kalamazoo. 
 Again, if the Miamis of "Maramek" had been on 
 the Kalamazoo, the Governor of France would have 
 had little occasion to make such an effort as he did 
 to unite them with the Miamis of St. Joseph, for 
 the fifty miles, in that case, would have made the 
 villages practically within hearing distance in case 
 of war with the Iroquois. In a speech at the same 
 conference, "Perrot presented, on the part of the 
 Pepicoquis, who are also Miamis of Maramek, a 
 robe," etc., thus associating these two branches as 
 Franquelin s map places them. 
 
 A veil of mystery long hung about Maramech 
 Hill. Some, not conversant with the facts, thought 
 it might have been here that Black Hawk, in 1832, 
 called Shabbona and Waubansie, the Potawattomie 
 chiefs, to a council; but this was guesswork, for all 
 definite traditions touching this hill, if any there 
 ever were, have been forgotten. 
 
 Upon a September day, in 1874, with a friend, I 
 climbed the hill to gain a view of the panorama 
 spread out from its southern summit. My thoughts 
 and what I said to this friend at this, his first visit, 
 proved to be prophetic. I mentioned the many 
 burial mounds on other hills and wondered that the 
 so-called mound-builders had not chosen this beau 
 tiful spot as a last resting-place for their dead. 
 
7 6 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 While scanning the surface, as often before, I 
 noticed, for the first time, a depression and a ridge. 
 The ridge and its ditch were easily traced, and, with 
 the curved brow of the hill, they completed a circle 
 enclosing about two acres. Pits also had been dug 
 along the brow. Here had certainly been a defense, 
 and a strategic point it was indeed. Where the 
 ditch met the southern brow of the hill it continued 
 slantwise down; this, I thought, must have been a 
 covered way by which the water of the creek that, 
 but a few years before had run near by, was reached. 
 Indications led me to believe that the ridge had 
 been palisaded. My eyes and thoughts wandered 
 to and along the cool spring-born creek to the east 
 and southeast, from which this hill gently rises; 
 thence on to the river, whose waters, particularly in 
 the summer time, are very warm and not well 
 adapted to quenching thirst, and further on to 
 Sylvan Spring, in the shade of the tall trees a little 
 distance up the river. I said to my friend that 
 trails must have crossed the river not far away, and 
 others have followed the river s course. I also 
 spoke to him of the attractions which this cool creek 
 and the springs must have had to the multitudes 
 who traversed the trails, and of the temptations to 
 the weary coursers of the trails to stop for rest and 
 refreshment. I went further and, pointing to a 
 newly-plowed field, a quarter of a mile away, at the 
 mouth of Big Rock creek, said that we should prob 
 ably find fragments of pottery and other evidences 
 of a prehistoric occupation. We passed to the fields 
 with hopes of finding proof of the existence of a 
 village, if one had ever existed there and, while 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 77 
 
 mounting a fence to step into the field, a dozen 
 fragments met my sight in a little gully, where the 
 handiwork of some fair potter of the forest had gone 
 to pieces. For several years since, my spare 
 moments have been spent in walking over the 
 site of this ancient village. I defined its boundaries 
 well, but nothing of its people could be learned 
 until old maps had been consulted. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE FOX TRIBE* 
 
 autxpamis apeltcs 
 TOTEM OF THE FOXES, DRAWN ON A DEERSKIN. 
 
 *The Fox tribe called themselves Mesh-kwa-ki-ha-gi. It is 
 thought by Mr. William Jones, a descendant of that tribe, edu 
 cated at Harvard, that when met by the Frenchmen and asked 
 who they were, they replied: "We are Wa-go-sha-hugi," 
 meaning to say, We are of the Fox clan." Nearly all writers 
 tell us that Watagamie is the Algonquin name of the fox, but 
 that word may be the name of the fox in some other of the 
 native languages and given to the Foxes by another tribe. 
 
 79 
 
8o LOST MARAMECH 
 
 Somewhere south of Lake St. John, in which 
 heads the Saguenay river, a stream in places serene 
 and shadowed by cliffs which are studded by 
 cedar and pine trees, its depths as blue as the sky, 
 there, in a wilderness rich in all its primitive 
 charms, the Fox tribe was first heard of by the 
 French explorers. For our rivers, our mountains 
 and lakes, the native tribes made choice of names 
 significant of some prominent characteristic. It is 
 probable that no braver tribe ever lived on our con 
 tinent and that no wilder region is known than that 
 from which came the nation called by neighboring 
 natives Musquakees people of the red earth or 
 banks. What influence this wild region had upon 
 them, we cannot tell. We cannot, with certainty, 
 attribute their dispositions, most ferocious, to their 
 having been nurtured in a cradle where nature is 
 least tame. 
 
 As every nation, from time immemorial, has 
 placed upon its banner an emblem, so the wild 
 tribes of America each chose a totem by which to be 
 recognized. The British lion, the American eagle, 
 and the lily of France, relics of barbarism, have no 
 more significance than the fox painted upon the 
 wigwams of the Musquakees. When the French 
 explorers first knew this tribe, they saw the picture 
 of a fox crudely painted upon the shields and wig 
 wams, and at once called them the Renards; but the 
 Algonquin name of the fox was Watagamie, and 
 hence the neighboring tribes so called these people; 
 sometimes, at a later period, however, they were 
 often called Musquaukees. In the French records 
 these names were often used indiscriminately. 
 
Pu-ci-ti-nig-wa, his counselors and the interpreter, Fox Reservation, Tama, Iowa. 
 (Photo by Moore, Toledo, loica.} 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 81 
 
 When Canada and the west came into the posses 
 sion of the English, the latter called these people 
 the Foxes. 
 
 Why they left the wilds north of Montreal, we are 
 not told. Later, we know, they were driven from 
 pillar to post by angered neighbors, and we natu 
 rally concluded that they may never have been con 
 genial. The Algonquin stock, of which they were 
 a branch, extended from Cape Race to the Rocky 
 Mountains, both sides of the St. Lawrence and the 
 Great Lakes, and down the Atlantic coast. The 
 Miamis, Sacs, Foxes, Kickapoos and, as well, 
 the Illinois, of whom I shall also say much, spoke 
 the Algonquin language; but among the tribes there 
 existed differences of dialect very noticeable. It 
 will not profit us to waste printer s ink in a discus 
 sion of the origin of the American Indians. Whether 
 this continent was peopled from Asia or Asia from 
 this continent we may well leave to ethnologists. 
 That communication by the way of Behring s strait 
 has been constant, since the close of the Glacial 
 Epoch, is as certain as that the Esquimau paddles 
 his kayak hundreds of miles, sometimes far beyond 
 the sight of land. About midway in Behring s 
 strait, which is only thirty-six miles wide, with Asia 
 and America both in sight on any fogless day, one 
 standing on the Diomede islands may see that inter 
 course between the tv/o continents has not been in 
 the least difficult. The babel of languages found in 
 America is only accounted for by the supposition of 
 an immense period of time and isolation of the 
 various tribes, from time to time. 
 
 Our people having the fox as their totem seem to 
 
82 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 have been mentioned in the Jesuit Relations of 1640. 
 North and west of Montreal, between lakes Nipis- 
 sing and St. John, the Ouachegami were said to be 
 located; also were there known the Kristinon and 
 other Algonquin tribes. Each of the explorers and 
 missionaries made the best effort possible to him in 
 writing these names, and we find the name of a 
 tribe spelled a dozen ways. That the "Ouachegami" 
 tribe was the "Outagamie" (Watagamie), seems 
 probable. As in the French language the vowel 
 sound before a vowel represented by our w has no 
 single symbol, we find in its stead ou, and hence we 
 conclude that Ouachegami, as there given, and 
 later Watagamie, as often spelled, no doubt refer to 
 the same tribe. 
 
 The name "Watagamie," the Algonquin word for 
 fox, it is said, was chosen by this tribe, and the fox 
 was made its totem; but, if traditions be depended 
 upon, it seems quite likely that the name Musquaukee 
 was given to a branch of the tribe, by its neighbors, 
 after it had passed around the straits and reached 
 the western shores of Lake Michigan, near Green 
 Bay. By some it is thought that they bore the 
 name Musquaukee while yet in Canada, north of 
 Montreal. The legend of the Red Banks tends to 
 lead us to a contrary belief, for the word Musquaukee 
 means "red banks," or "red earth," from moskwah, 
 red, and aki, banks, or earth. In Vol. II. of the 
 Wisconsin Historical Collections is found the legend of 
 the Red Banks, as told by an Indian woman, then 
 living near the Red river, on the eastern shore of 
 Green Bay, by name O-Kee-Wah, or "The Sea." 
 The story had been told her in childhood. She had 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 83 
 
 dreamed it over, and her imagination led her, no 
 doubt, to magnify the deeds, particularly of the 
 people from whom she believed herself to have 
 descended. The fleet of canoes was magnified; 
 the number of warriors was greatly multiplied, and 
 the number of deaths probably greater than the actual 
 number engaged. The high lands between Lake 
 Michigan and Green Bay present bold cliffs of red 
 clay. They are called the Red Banks. North of 
 the present city of Green Bay, some twelve miles, 
 an ancient earthwork may be traced, evidently a 
 defense. The embankment originally high, was 
 probably supplemented by palisades as many simi 
 lar defenses were of which we have accounts. A 
 ditch is outside quite likely, as it was the cus 
 tom of the Indians to plant timbers vertically in 
 the ground and heap the earth against them, thus 
 leaving a depression on one or both sides. Evi 
 dences of the existence of three bastions may yet be 
 seen. The embankment formed three sides, and a 
 precipice, about a hundred feet in height, the 
 fourth. It was the custom of the early tribes to 
 select, for their defense, places that Nature had best 
 adapted for the purpose. When I shall have told 
 the story of Maramech Hill, it will be seen that 
 there a similar choice was made. In each case 
 water was reached by a covered passageway leading 
 to the shore. Steps may have been cut in the clay, 
 as was also the probable case at Maramech; a cover 
 ing of branches of trees hid those descending for 
 water. Palisaded walls about the center of the 
 works at the Red Banks served a purpose that we 
 can only guess quite likely some structures for 
 
84 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 housing the aged and invalids. The promontory, 
 north of this enclosure, may have served as a look 
 out, or may have been the place of burial of some 
 chief of an older people, the only knowledge of 
 whom is reached by a study of the great mounds of 
 the Mississippi and Ohio valleys. In the far west 
 were tribes that lived on cliffs and mesas, so nearly 
 inaccessible as to render their places of abode prac 
 tically impregnable. Their fields were in the valleys 
 below. It seems to me probable that the defenses 
 at the Red Banks were likewise the actual village 
 site of the Musquaukee branch of the Foxes, and 
 that the hundred or more acres southward were the 
 fields in which, in times of peace, they raised their 
 corn, watermelons, beans, and a variety of other 
 grains and vegetables, long cultivated by the 
 natives, regarding which we have been only partially 
 informed. The corn ridges are said to have been 
 visible more than a hundred years later than the last 
 occupation. 
 
 Listen to the romantic account of the tragedy of 
 the Red Banks: We seem to see O-Kee-Wah sitting 
 at the wigwam fire, with the animation of childhood 
 incident to her advanced years, telling the story as 
 she heard it. The wigwam fire, always small to 
 avoid filling the cabin with smoke, burning spas 
 modically, lights up and, in turn, hides the wrinkles 
 that tell of age. Her people, she does not tell us 
 how many generations back, were with the attack 
 ing party. She seems to feel what these warriors 
 felt during the struggle, the scenes of which she is 
 painting in words. She tells us that the Sacs then 
 lived with the Foxes at the Red Banks. How long 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 85 
 
 they lived there she does not know, but they were a 
 people much dreaded. Their fields were large and 
 fish were abundant in the bay. Councils were held 
 among the neighboring tribes, and they united with 
 the Menominees, who lived on the western shore, to 
 make an effort to rid the country of the people of 
 the Red Banks. The Chippewas, Pottawatomies, 
 Ottawas, and others formed the attacking party. 
 O-Kee-Wah tells us of the immense number of 
 canoes filled with the bravest warriors, who landed 
 along the beach for a great distance and moved 
 against the Red Banks in the night. It was before 
 the time of firearms or steel arrow-points, and hence 
 the old method of Indian warfare was followed. 
 Canoe after canoe moved to the foot of the steep 
 bluff with braves, while other warriors surrounded 
 the defenses on the land side. 
 
 The besiegers, at night, sought their positions 
 undiscovered, except by a woman whose parents 
 lived within the fort. Unwillingly she had been 
 made the wife of one of the Sacs, not far away; and 
 as she ran from his wigwam to her old home she 
 passed the lines of the attacking party. Rushing 
 into the fort, she awakened her family and ex 
 claimed, as was the custom in cases of great danger, 
 "We are all dead!" Her story was not believed 
 until, at dawn, the hour usually chosen by the Indian 
 for attack, the full truth was made known. The 
 siege lasted many days. Both besiegers and the 
 besieged fought bravely. O-Kee-Wah tells us that 
 the blood was ankle deep within the walls; that the 
 water supply was cut off by the warriors in the 
 canoes; that every effort was made to obtain it by 
 
86 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 stealth at night, and by dropping blankets, by 
 means of cords, in the daytime. 4 The taunts uttered 
 and the thirst of the braves did prompt some to go 
 down, where they met defeat and death at the hands 
 of the allies. She tells us of the heat of the burning 
 sun and the dreadful sufferings from thirst; she tells 
 of the partial relief by rainfall, and we seem to feel 
 the pangs they felt while watching the beautiful 
 waters of the bay lapping the shores in poetic 
 rhythm so near and yet so far. She tells us of a 
 dream and of the words of the dreamer. "Listen!" 
 he says. "Last night there stood by me the form 
 of a young man, clothed in white, who said, I was 
 alive once, was dead, and now live forever; only 
 trust in me, now and always, and I will deliver you; 
 to-night at midnight I will cast a deep sleep upon 
 your enemies. Then go forth silently. 
 
 Dreams, mere vagaries as we know them, have 
 often been considered by the savages either as 
 admonitions or commands from the Great Spirit or, 
 at least, warnings from the Spirit Land. They 
 served as an incentive to action, usually greater 
 than the commands of the chief. They were the 
 rule of life. Each young warrior, when nearing the 
 age of manhood, sought solitude and fasted for 
 many days, hunger often driving him near to mad 
 ness, and in his troubled sleep to dreams of war and 
 of the chase. Whatever the material object he 
 dreamed of, that thing he made his mascot. What 
 ever that dream was, it influenced him through life. 
 
 "The dream of the young man of the legend," 
 she continues, "was believed to be a direct revela 
 tion from the Great Spirit and, thus encouraged, all 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 87 
 
 of the besieged who attempted to make their escape, 
 while the besiegers were wrapped in deep slumber, 
 succeeded. A few doubting ones who remained 
 were massacred when came the following dawn." 
 
 That the Sac (the "Osaukies"), the people of the 
 yellow earth, were probably from the same region as 
 the Foxes is made evident by Black Hawk, who 
 tells us that his great-grandfather, Thunder, a Sac, 
 lived in the region north of Montreal. We are told 
 that the Foxes were the first to move westward and 
 that they established themselves near Green Bay, 
 Wis. Whether they fled from belligerent neighbors 
 or were first to believe that to remain in the vicinity 
 of the Iroquois, who were occupying what is now 
 New York, meant extinction, we are not informed. 
 Their brothers, the Sacs, were found, soon after the 
 Foxes are supposed to have come west, at Saginaw 
 Bay, which took its present name from Saukenong, 
 the town of the Sacs. "The Sacs, although few in 
 number, are divided into two factions, of which one 
 is attached to the Watagamies, and the other to the 
 Pottawatomies," says Charlevoix (V., 432). 
 
 Fragmentary records speak of Sacs sometimes 
 being allied with the Foxes, and often against them. 
 It is probable that it was the faction of the Sacs 
 which was friendly to the Pottawatomies that many 
 times turned its hand against the Foxes; but it is 
 not credible that either faction was so fickle as to be 
 one day with the Foxes and the next against them. 
 The Foxes would have put an end to such fickleness 
 by effectual means, or have fled the country. 
 
 Some time after the Foxes had reached northern 
 Wisconsin, possibly before they were defeated at 
 
88 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 the Red Banks, they made common cause with the 
 Sioux against the Ojibwas (Chippewas). At a cer 
 tain time a large party of Foxes floated down the 
 Ontonagon river in their small canoes. They 
 landed in the night on the island of the Ojibwas, 
 and early in the morning captured four women who 
 had gone to gather wood. The revenge of the 
 Ojibwas was quick and complete. As the Foxes, 
 by their exultant yells, made known to their enemies 
 the course of their flight, hundreds of Ojibwa war 
 riors hastily embarked in their large lake canoes in 
 pursuit. A dense fog covered the lake and, de 
 pending upon this for eventual escape and confident 
 in their numbers, the Foxes, intoxicated with their 
 success, kept up a continual yelling and singing. 
 The Ojibwas, thus guided, silently and swiftly pur 
 sued them, purposely keeping in their wake until 
 they arrived opposite a steep, rocky coast a mile 
 above the mouth of Montreal river and eight leagues 
 from the "Point," where they fell on the Foxes 
 with great fury. Fighting in large canoes which sat 
 firmly in the water, they almost destroyed the entire 
 party of four hundred Foxes who, being in small 
 canoes, were upset and most of them drowned or 
 dispatched in the water. 
 
 Soon after the above occurrence, the tradition 
 informs us, a party of Foxes fell on a camp of 
 Ojibwas while the men were out hunting. They 
 captured two youths, having driven them into boggy 
 ground. One of the prisoners was the son of the 
 principal Ojibwa chief. The father of the young 
 man was one of the hunting party. Upon his return 
 home he heard the heart-rending news and, knowing 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 89 
 
 that the boy s fate would be the stake, he imme 
 diately pursued the retreating captors alone. Fol 
 lowing in their trail he arrived at one of their 
 principal villages, where the Foxes were in the act 
 of burning their captive. He stepped boldly into 
 the midst of his enemies and requested that he be 
 allowed to take the place of his son. "My son," 
 said he, "has seen but a few winters; his feet have 
 never trod the warpath; but the hairs of my head 
 are white, and over the graves of my relatives I 
 have hung many scalps that I have taken from the 
 heads of your warriors." The old war chief s offer 
 was accepted by the Foxes; his son was released 
 and himself burned at the stake with all the tortures 
 that savage ingenuity could invent. 
 
 The story of Damon and Pythias has often been 
 acted among the savage tribes of America, and the 
 above instance is only one of the hundred that have 
 become matters of history, 
 
 The son returned to his people and was afterward 
 known by the name of his father. This act was ter 
 ribly avenged by the Ojibwa tribe. A large party 
 was collected and sent against the towns of the 
 Foxes, and it did not return until after six villages 
 of their enemy had been laid waste and the inhabit 
 ants killed or driven away. The war between these 
 tribes was bloody in the extreme, and was carried 
 on with all the cruelty of savage warfare. Captives 
 were taken and burned. The practice of torturing 
 an enemy existed among the savages before the 
 coming of the white man, and long before the Foxes 
 left the vicinity of Montreal. Notwithstanding 
 this, a tradition exists among the Ojibwas which 
 
go LOST MARAMECH 
 
 purports to be an account of the origin of the cus 
 tom. (Schoolcraft, Part II., 142.) 
 
 "A noted warrior of the Ojibwas was once taken 
 captive by his nephew, the son of his sister, who 
 had been captured and married among the Foxes. 
 The nephew, to show the Foxes, of whom he had 
 practically become one, his utter disregard for any 
 relationship with the Ojibwas, planted a stake in 
 the ground and, taking his captive by the arm, tied 
 his feet and hands to the stake, remarking that he 
 wished to warm his uncle by a good fire. He then 
 built a large fire, and after roasting one side of his 
 captive, turned the other to the blaze. When the 
 naked body had been burnt to a blister he untied his 
 uncle and told him to go home and tell the Ojibwas 
 how the Foxes treat their uncles. The uncle recov 
 ered from his fire wounds, and in a future excursion 
 succeeded in capturing his nephew. He took him 
 to the village of the Ojibwas where he tied him to a 
 stake and, taking a fresh elkskin on which a layer 
 of fat had purposely been left, he placed it over a 
 fire until it became an immense blaze; then throw 
 ing it over the shoulders of his nephew, remarked, 
 "Nephew, when I was in your village you warmed 
 me before a good fire; now I, in turn, give you a 
 mantle to warm yourself." The elkskin, covered 
 with fat, burned furiously, wrapping the body of his 
 nephew in a dreadful mantle that soon consumed 
 him. This act, the tradition states, was repeated 
 by the Foxes, and death by fire soon became cus 
 tomary with both tribes. 
 
 We are told by Schoolcraft, for whose statements 
 we must sometimes make allowances, that the 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 91 
 
 Foxes were, in a measure, allied with the Iroquois 
 in the wars that annihilated the Hurons. He would 
 have us believe that they formed a part of the 
 so-called "Neutral Nation," north of lakes Erie and 
 Ontario, so often referred to by the priests and 
 explorers. It is not easy to believe that this tribe 
 could remain neutral and thus win that name, if 
 there was a war going on within a few hundred miles 
 of them. However, when first we learn of the 
 Foxes with absolute certainty, they were near the 
 head of Green Bay, where they were making history 
 for themselves with a vengeance. Around Green 
 Bay many small nations had already gathered for 
 mutual protection against the Iroquois. Father 
 Allouez was one of the first to write them up; but 
 we must bear in mind, when reading what he says, 
 that these tribes had for some time been subjected 
 to the contaminating influence of the fur-traders 
 who were, in fact, the true discoverers of all por 
 tions of the west, rather than the Jesuit missionaries 
 who followed them and claimed all the honors. 
 
 As in the case of Joliet and Marquette, the priests 
 were mainly drones of the various expeditions; they 
 usually had leisure to write while the industrious 
 were at the oars. The hardships they tell of were 
 likely overdrawn. 
 
 Of the Sacs, with whom the Foxes were often 
 allied, the father says: "As for the Ousakes, they, 
 above all others, can be called savages; they are 
 very numerous, but wandering and scattered in the 
 forests without any fixed abode." 
 
 In an account, Father Allouez, referring to the 
 Foxes, says: "These savages withdrew to these 
 
9 2 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 regions to escape the persecutions of the Iroquois, 
 and settled in an excellent country, the soil of which 
 is black, thus yielding them Indian corn in abun 
 dance. They live by the chase during the winter, 
 returning to their cabins toward its close and live 
 there on Indian corn hidden the previous autumn; 
 they season it with fish. In the midst of their 
 clearing they have a fort, where their cabins of 
 heavy bark are well suited for resisting all sorts 
 of attacks. On their journeys they make cabins of 
 mats. They are at war with the Sioux, their neigh 
 bors. Canoes are not used by them, and for that 
 reason they do not make war on the Iroquois, 
 although they have been killed by them. They are 
 held in low estimation, and are considered by other 
 nations as stingy, avaricious, choleric, and quarrel 
 some. They have had a very poor opinion of the 
 French ever since two traders for beaver skins 
 appeared among them. If these men had behaved 
 as they ought, I would have less trouble in giving 
 these poor people other ideas of the whole French 
 nation, which they are beginning to esteem since I 
 explained to them the principle and motive that 
 brought me to their country." 
 
 This is one of the many sighs found in the Jesuit 
 Relations sighs over the French immoralities, often 
 uttered between words of praise of the honor and 
 uprightness of the natives. An investigation made 
 by Schoolcraft shows that the Foxes were a very 
 large-brained people. That they were brainy is 
 shown by their activity and success where the odds 
 were not too greatly against them. 
 
 Judge James Hall (History ofN. A. Indians) char- 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 93 
 
 acterizes the Foxes as "always restless and discon 
 tented; Ishmaelites of the lakes; their hand against 
 every man and every man s hand against them." 
 If not thieves by nature, they soon became such by 
 schooling, and the traders were excellent teachers. 
 
" - - "~r- j * jj"^ 
 Fair specimens. Tama Reservation. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 Tradition must be depended upon until the time 
 that the Foxes were found by the first French 
 explorers who left definite accounts of them. They 
 were located near Green Bay. Whether Nicolet, 
 who reached Green Bay in 1639,* found any of them 
 there we are not told. The traders who dealt with 
 these tribes made few records, and it was left to the 
 Jesuit Fathers who, as was their custom, followed 
 the traders into the nooks and corners of the western 
 country, and were thus enabled to prepare the rec 
 ords now known as \\\e Jesuit Relations, and to tell us 
 of the natives they met. 
 
 Near the Foxes were the less warlike Menominees 
 and the Kickapoos and Mascoutins. The last-men 
 tioned tribes are said by some to have been related 
 to the Foxes, politically or otherwise, which, how 
 ever, could only have been through intermarriages 
 and treaties. The Kickapoos seem to have been 
 allies of the Sacs and Foxes in many of the wars 
 against the French, English, and Americans; and 
 one or both of these tribes, as well as the Foxes, 
 gained the enmity of the French to such an extent 
 that, at an early date, their destruction was deter 
 mined upon. (Perrot s Manuscripts.) 
 
 The result of all the struggles between them and 
 the French shows that the determination of the 
 
 *Davidson, in his Unnamed Wisconsin, says 1634. 
 95 
 
9 6 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 French to destroy that tribe was followed by years 
 of indifferent success. 
 
 That the Iroquois had anything to do with the 
 driving of the Foxes from the vicinity of the St. 
 Lawrence river we are not certain; but early as 1661 
 the Iroquois rounded the head of Lake Michigan, 
 on their way to attack the Foxes, with what result 
 we are not told, unless La Hontan s story, soon to 
 follow, refers to it; but we are informed that they 
 killed a number of warriors of the Illinois tribes, 
 which act kindled the long war between the Iroquois 
 and the last named. This predatory warfare prac 
 tically resulted in the breaking up of the Illinois 
 Confederacy in twenty years. The story of the 
 early defeats of the various nations that formed the 
 prey of the Iroquois on the one hand and of the 
 Sioux on the other, was first told to the French 
 explorers at the Falls of St. Mary in 1665, where a 
 grand council of the many tribes inhabiting the 
 region west of Lake Michigan was held. 
 
 The Pottawatomies, from the south of Green Bay, 
 Sacs and Foxes from the west, Hurons from the 
 north of the lakes, and the Illinois from far south of 
 the Pottawatomies, all told of their ancient glory 
 and diminished numbers. In addition to their sad 
 stories, they told of the vast prairies, of the abun 
 dance of game, the fertility of the soil, and the mild 
 ness of the climate of their possessions. Father 
 Allouez was at this council and wrote much regard 
 ing it. 
 
 Following the traders, the Jesuits founded mis 
 sions at the villages of many of the tribes, and finally 
 one among the Foxes and the Sacs. These allied 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 97 
 
 nations mingled with the various other tribes above 
 mentioned, most of whom spoke dialects of the Al 
 gonquin language. The differences in speech were 
 largely in the matter of pronunciation, which made 
 it somewhat difficult, even for the various Algonquin 
 tribes, to communicate with each other, and still 
 more difficult on the part of the French to make 
 themselves understood. 
 
 Father Allouez prided himself that, after a little 
 labor, he could make them understand sufficiently 
 to enable him to instruct them in matters he 
 believed necessary to their salvation. He says: 
 "The country of the Outagami [Foxes] is to the 
 side of the south, towards the lake of the Illinois. 
 They are a numerous people and have about one 
 thousand men carrying arms; that is, hunters and 
 warriors. They have fields of Indian corn, and 
 dwell in a country having many advantages as far 
 as hunting of the wild cat, deer, buffalo, and beaver 
 is concerned. They do not use the canoe, and ordi 
 narily make their journeys by land, carrying on their 
 shoulders their packages and game.* These people 
 are abandoned to idolatry as much as are the other 
 nations. One day, being in the cabin of an Outa 
 gami, I found his father and mother dangerously ill; 
 and having said that bleeding would cure them, the 
 poor man took some tobacco, reduced it to a pow 
 der, and threw it on my gown on all sides, saying to 
 me, Thou art a spirit; proceed to render health to 
 these sick people; I offer to thee this tobacco in 
 sacrifice. What dost thou, my brother? I said to 
 him, I am nothing. It is He who made all that is 
 
 * This will be found to be a mistake. 
 
9 8 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 my Master, and I am only His servant. Well, he 
 replied, at the same time scattering some tobacco 
 on the ground and raising high his eyes, this is then 
 of Thee, who hast created the heavens and earth, 
 that I offer this tobacco; give health to the sick. 
 These people are not alienated from the recognition 
 of the Creator of the world, for they have already 
 said to me what I have reported, that they recog 
 nize, in their country, the Great Spirit who has made 
 the heavens and the earth, and who dwells towards 
 the country of the French. It is said of them and 
 the Ousaki [Sacs] that when they find a man wan 
 dering, and it is to their advantage, they kill him if 
 he is a Frenchman, for they cannot bear a man with 
 whiskers. This sort of cruelty renders them less 
 disposed to the Gospel than the Pouteouatami [Pot- 
 tawatomies]. I have not, however, omitted to pro 
 claim the Gospel to nearly six score of persons who 
 have passed the summer here, but I have not found 
 among them any sufficiently well disposed to receive 
 baptism. I conferred it, nevertheless, on five sick 
 children, who then recovered their health. 
 
 "As for the Ousaki, one can well call them sav 
 ages above all others. They are in great numbers, 
 but are vagrants, wandering in the forest without 
 any permanent abode. I have seen nearly two hun 
 dred and have proclaimed the faith and have bap 
 tized eighteen of their children." 
 
 Father Allouez speaks often of the Foxes. In 
 the Jesuit Relations of 1669-71, we read: "On the 
 sixteenth of April I embarked to go and begin 
 the mission to the Outagamis [Foxes], a people of 
 considerable note in all these regions. We slept at 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 99 
 
 the head of the bay, at the mouth of the river des 
 Puaus, which we have named for Saint Francis. On 
 our way we saw clouds of swans, bustards, and 
 ducks. The savages set snares for them at the head 
 of the bay, where they catch as many as fifty in one 
 night; this game seeking in the autumn the wild 
 oats that the wind has shaken off in the month of 
 September. On the i/th we ascended the river 
 Saint Francis, which is two and sometimes three 
 arpents wide. After proceeding four leagues we 
 found the village of the savages called Sacs, whose 
 people were beginning a work that well deserves to 
 have its place here. From one bank of the river to 
 the other they make a barricade by driving down 
 large stakes in two brasses of water [two arms 
 length], so that there is a kind of bridge over the 
 stream for the fishermen who, with the help of a 
 small weir, easily catch the sturgeon and every other 
 kind of fish which this dam stops, although the 
 water does not cease to flow between the stakes. 
 They call this contrivance mitikikan, and it serves 
 them during the spring and a part of the summer. 
 
 "On the 20th, which was Sunday, I said mass, 
 after voyaging five or six leagues on the lake, and 
 we came to a river flowing from a lake bordered 
 with wild oats. This stream we followed and found 
 at the end of it the river that leads to the Outaga- 
 mies in one direction, and to the Maskoutens in the 
 other. We entered this first stream, which flows 
 from a lake; there we saw some turkeys perched on 
 a tree, male and female, resembling perfectly those 
 of France the same size, the same color, and the 
 same cry. Bustards, ducks, swans, and geese are in 
 
ioo LOST MARAMECH 
 
 great numbers on all the lakes and rivers; the wild 
 oats, on which they live, attracting them thither. 
 There are large and small stags, bears, and beavers 
 in great abundance. 
 
 "On the 24th, after turning and doubling several 
 times in various lakes and rivers, we arrived at the 
 village of the Outagamies. The people came in 
 crowds to meet us, in order to see, as they said, the 
 Manitou who was coming to their country. They 
 accompanied us with respect as far as the door of 
 the cabin which we were made to enter. This nation 
 is renowned for being populous, the men who bear 
 arms numbering more than four hundred; while the 
 number of women and children there is the greater 
 on account of the polygamy which prevails among 
 them, each man having commonly four wives, some 
 having six, and others as many as ten. Six large 
 cabins of these poor people were put to rout this 
 month of March by eighteen Iroquois from Ison- 
 nontouan, who, under the guidance of two fugitive 
 Iroquois slaves of the Pottawatomies, made an 
 onslaught and killed all the people except thirty 
 women whom they led away as captives. As the 
 men were away hunting, they met with but little 
 resistance, there being only six warriors left in the 
 cabins, besides the women and children, who num 
 bered a hundred or thereabouts. This carnage was 
 committed two days journey from the place of our 
 winterquarters at the foot of the lake of the Illi 
 nois, which is called Machikiganing [Michigan]. 
 On the 25th I called together the Elders in a large 
 assembly with the purpose of giving them the first 
 acquaintance with our mysteries. I began with the 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 101 
 
 invocation of the Holy Ghost, to whom we oaJ 
 made our appeal during our journey, to pray for His 
 blessing upon our labors. Then when I h aci, bv 
 means of a present which I thought I ought to make 
 them, dried the tears which the remembrance of the 
 massacre perpetrated by the Iroquois caused them 
 to shed, I explained to them the principal articles 
 of our faith and made known the law and the com 
 mandments of God, the rewards promised to those 
 that shall obey Him and the punishments prepared 
 by Him for those who shall not obey Him. They 
 understood me without my having need of an inter 
 preter; but, oh my God, what ideas and ways con 
 trary to the Gospel these poor people have and how 
 much need there is of very powerful grace to con 
 quer their hearts; they accept the unity and sover 
 eignty of God, Creator of all things; for the rest 
 they have not a word to say. An Outagami told me 
 in private that his ancestor had come from Heaven 
 and that he had preached the unity and sovereignty 
 of God who had made all the other gods; that he 
 had assured them that he would go to Heaven after 
 his death, where he should die no more; and that 
 his body would not be found in the place where it 
 had been buried, which was verified, said this Outa 
 gami, the body being no longer found where it had 
 been put. 
 
 "These are fables which God uses for their salva 
 tion, for after the man had finished telling me every 
 thing, he added that he was dismissing all of his 
 wives, retaining only one, whom he would not 
 change, and that he was resolved to obey me and pray 
 to God. I hope that God will show him mercy. 
 
102 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 "I tried to visit the people in their cabins, which 
 are in very great numbers, sometimes for the pur 
 pose cf instructing them in private, and at other 
 times to go and carry them some little medicine, or 
 rather something sweet for their little sick children, 
 whom I was baptizing. Toward the end they 
 brought them to me voluntarily in the cabin where 
 I lodged. I spoke their language in the assurance 
 they gave me that they understood me; it is the 
 same as that of the Sacs; but, alas, what difficulty 
 they have in apprehending a law that is so opposed 
 to all their customs. . . . 
 
 "On the 26th the Elders came into the cabin 
 where I was lodging to hold counsel there. The 
 assembly having been convened, the captain, after 
 laying at my feet a present of some skins, ha 
 rangued in the following terms: We thank thee for 
 having come to visit and console us in our afflic 
 tion; and we are the more obliged to thee, inasmuch 
 as no one has hitherto shown us that kindness. 
 They added that they had nothing further to say to 
 me except that they were too dispirited to speak 
 to me, being all occupied in mourning their dead. 
 
 11 Do thou, black gown, who art not dispirited 
 and who takest pity on people, take pity on us as 
 thou shalt deem best. Thou couldst dwell here near 
 us to protect us from our enemies, and to teach us 
 to speak to the great Manitou, the same as thou 
 teachest the savages of the Sault. Thou couldest 
 cause to be restored to us our wives who were led 
 away prisoners. Thou couldst stay the arms of the 
 Iroquois, and speak to them of peace in our behalf 
 for the future. I have not the intelligence to say 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 103 
 
 anything to thee; take pity on us in the way thou 
 shalt judge most fitting. When thou seest the 
 Iroquois, tell them that they have taken me for 
 some one else. I do not make war on them. I 
 have not eaten [killed] their people; but my neigh 
 bors took them prisoners and made me a present of 
 them; I adopted them, and they are living here as 
 my children. 
 
 "This speech has nothing of the barbarian in it. 
 I told them that, in the treaty of peace which the 
 French had made with the Iroquois, no mention had 
 been made of them; that no Frenchmen had then 
 been here and that they were not known; that, as to 
 other matters, I much approved what their captain 
 had said; that I would not forget it, and that in the 
 following autumn I would render them an answer. 
 Meanwhile, I told them to fortify themselves in 
 their resolution to obey the true God, who alone 
 could procure them what they asked for and infi 
 nitely more. 
 
 "In the evening four savages of the nation of the 
 Miamis arrived from a place two days journey 
 hence, bringing three Iroquois scalps and a half- 
 smoked arm, to console the relatives of those whom 
 the Iroquois had killed a short time before. On the 
 27th we took our departure, commending to the 
 good angels the seeds sown in the hearts of these 
 poor people, who listened to me with respect and 
 attention. There is a glorious and rich harvest for 
 a zealous and patient missionary. We named this 
 mission after Saint Mark, because on his day the 
 Faith was proclaimed there." 
 
 Father Allouez later reports to his superiors con- 
 
I0 4 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 cerning these people and the mission of St. Mark, at 
 the village of the Outagami. This mission was the 
 first ever established among the Foxes. He says of 
 these people: "They are haughty because of their 
 numbers, their cabins being reckoned as more than 
 two hundred, while in each there are five or six and 
 even as many as ten families." Reckoning each 
 family at five persons, this would give them more 
 than six thousand in a village. He says: "Several 
 other nations swell the size of this one, or rather 
 make a Babylon of it by the disorder which reigns 
 there." He regarded them "light of faith," having 
 yet made no impression on them. "They had 
 formed a plan," he further says, "as they are proud 
 and arrogant, to take vengeance by killing some 
 Frenchmen for the ill-treatment they had them 
 selves received during the past summer." 
 
 How mistaken was the father, for the light of 
 faith has not yet made sufficient impression upon 
 the world to suppress the spirit of vengeance! At 
 the present time our laws are not a far departure 
 from those of Moses, and when the spirit of revenge 
 is not suppressed the mob cries out, "An eye for an 
 eye, and a tooth for a tooth." 
 
 The father tells us that the young French explor 
 ers did not dare to set foot there for fear of punish 
 ment which this father and others, in their reports, 
 showed that they so often deserved; but the vain 
 glorious father informed his superiors that all this 
 did not frighten him. He counted himself happy 
 to expose his life to evident danger in order to bear 
 the Gospel to these poor barbarians, as he had done 
 to all the people of this region. This father was 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 105 
 
 modest in comparison with some of those who wrote 
 the reports known as the Relations. As we look 
 over the field, the hundred years in which they 
 labored in the wilds of America, we find that they 
 were quite safe. A few were killed, and some 
 burned at the stake; but all things considered, they 
 were far from danger compared with the coureurs du 
 bois, as the clandestine traders were called. Going 
 over their experiences, as we now find them in cold 
 type, one impression is likely to strike the reader 
 they prated of their deeds and of desiring to become 
 martyrs, but they showed the usual amount of pru 
 dence in their efforts to save their lives; they 
 reported their sufferings, due to ill-treatment and 
 hardships, and spoke of their successes in the wars 
 with the jugglers (medicine men) and Satan. They 
 tell us, by the way, of a custom among the savages 
 that their own boastings remind us of. 
 
 When war s excitement sways the savages a chief 
 or leading warrior wishing to recruit a force to go 
 against an enemy, plants a post in the midst of the 
 village. Around this the warriors gather, and each, 
 in turn, recites the brave deeds of his life. He 
 throws his hatchet so that its edge strikes the post 
 and stops there, or brandishing it, he strikes the 
 blow as upon the head of an enemy, dances around 
 the post and boasts of the number of scalps he has 
 taken, and of the prisoners he has captured. In 
 pantomime he draws the bow and sends arrow after 
 arrow at an imaginary foe; he jumps as if to dodge 
 or parry a blow; he leaps upon an imaginary enemy, 
 bears him to the ground, and with a quick move 
 ment of his knife, cuts the scalp and tears it from 
 
io6 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 the head. It sometimes happens, however, that his 
 vainglory exceeds the bounds of reason, when he is 
 immediately humbled by some warrior who, know 
 ing that he is lying, rushes up and throws some dirt 
 into his mouth. The Jesuit Fatheis had no such 
 fear to restrain them, for each, alone at his mission, 
 had no one to dispute him when writing his reports, 
 or accuse him of overdrawing.* 
 
 *The above facts regarding Allouez s experience are largely 
 gathered from Burrows Brothers Jesuit Relations* 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 The Foxes, when first visited by the traders, were 
 on a river of Wisconsin flowing from west to east 
 and emptying into Green Bay, to which river the 
 French gave the name that, translated into English, 
 became Fox river. Father Allouez first visited 
 them at their village, where he established the mis 
 sion of St. Mark in 1671. He traveled many days 
 over ice and snow in the severest part of winter to 
 get there. Reaching the village, "he had no 
 sooner entered it," he tells us, "than he went from 
 cabin to cabin, cheering some with the hope of para 
 dise and frightening others with the fear of hell." 
 He further says that from these haughty natures he 
 was bound to expect nothing but repulse and mock 
 ery, with which they at first received the words he 
 bore them, especially in certain cabins whose chiefs 
 had as many as eight wives and into which he could 
 not step without feeling that he was walking into a 
 seraglio. Nevertheless, the father s perseverance 
 won the day and he saw that these people were 
 insensibly softening, and that what they at first 
 received with mockery, they soon after received with 
 fear and respect. "I was preparing myself for 
 death," he says, "meeting at first nothing but inso 
 lence and repulses from these barbarians; and lo! 
 they are listening to me with attention and patience 
 beyond what I could have expected even from the 
 best disposed people. I enter all the cabins, making 
 
 107 
 
io8 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 the sick pray to God, and baptizing the dying. 
 A few days after my arrival, while witnessing the 
 death of a person upon whom I had just con 
 ferred baptism, what joy I experienced in seeing 
 a soul take flight to heaven from so wanton a coun- 
 try." 
 
 The father s picture of the people, of whom I 
 shall treat, will bear further scrutiny. 
 
 "I still have reason to be surprised at the looks of 
 endearment which I received from most of these 
 people, instead of the trouble that I expected, and 
 more yet at the simplicity of a good old man in 
 whose cabin I publicly explained the holy mystery 
 of the incarnation and death of Jesus Christ. As 
 soon as I produced my crucifix to display before 
 these people, this good man, at the sight of it, 
 wished to acknowledge it as his god and to wor 
 ship it by offering the incense of this country; it 
 consisting of a powdered tobacco, of which he took 
 two or three handfuls and, one by one, scattered it 
 over the crucifix and over me, which is the highest 
 mark of honor they can show toward those they 
 regard as spirits. I could hardly restrain my tears 
 of joy at seeing the crucifix of Jesus Christ wor 
 shipped by a savage the very first time he was told 
 about Him." 
 
 It does not seem, to one reading these reports, 
 that this sentiment could have taken very deep root 
 so quickly. But did it ever take root? Was not 
 the introduction of so-called civilization the besom 
 that swept this tribe almost entirely from the face 
 of the earth? In their wretched wigwams in the 
 little reservation of Iowa, missionaries still labor 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 109 
 
 for the salvation of the souls of the decaying tribe. 
 The good father labored on. 
 
 "A woman did almost the same thing when, being 
 thoroughly instructed and receiving baptism, and at 
 the point of rendering up her soul, as she after 
 ward did, she repeatedly threw handfuls of tobacco 
 on the crucifix which I offered her; her intention 
 being the same as that of those who kiss it 
 devotedly." 
 
 The whole village being fully imbued with the 
 mysteries, by both public and private instruction, 
 the father took his departure after baptizing five 
 children and two adults, and after receiving assu 
 rance from the elders that upon his return he should 
 find a chapel there, which they would build them 
 selves, for entering upon the discharge of the func 
 tions of Christianity. 
 
 "Thus those people are being changed from 
 wolves into lambs, and little by little, but with the 
 exercise of much patience, are being won to Jesus 
 Christ; and hence we hope a Faith will spread to 
 many nations who have intercourse with this one, 
 and to whom we cannot have access without great 
 difficulty. 
 
 "The Ilimouec [Illinois] speak the language of 
 the Algonquins, but it differs much from that of 
 the other tribes. I understand them but little, for I 
 have had but little conversation with them. They 
 dwell in this vicinity; their country is more than 
 sixty leagues southward, beyond a large river that 
 discharges, as I conjecture, in the sea near Virginia. 
 These people are hunters and warriors; they use the 
 bow and arrow, rarely the gun, and never the canoe. 
 
i io LOST MARAMECH 
 
 This was a numerous nation, distributed in ten vil 
 lages, but at present reduced to two. The continual 
 wars with the Nadouessi [Sioux] on one side, and 
 the Iroquois on the other, have nearly exterminated 
 them. They recognize several spirits to whom they 
 offer sacrifices. They practice a kind of dance, 
 peculiar to themselves, that they call the dance of 
 the Calumet, in the following manner: They pre 
 pare a large pipe that they ornament with plumes 
 and put it in the middle of the place, handling it 
 with a kind of veneration; one of the company 
 raises it, at the same time dancing, and then yields 
 his place to a second, this one to a third, and this 
 to another. One would take this dance as a ballet 
 in pantomime that is made to rhythm with the 
 sound of a drum. He makes war, he prepares his 
 arms, runs, discovers the enemy, retires, then 
 approaches and utters the whoop, then kills the 
 enemy, takes his scalp and returns singing the song 
 of victory,* but doing all this with an unusual 
 promptness and surprising activity. 
 
 "After all have danced, one after the other, 
 around the pipe, one takes it and presents it to the 
 most noted of all the assembly to smoke, then to 
 another, and consecutively to all, wishing by this 
 ceremony to signify that which in France is done 
 by several drinking from the same glass. But 
 more: One leaves the pipe in the hands of the 
 most honorable one present as a sacred trust and as 
 
 * This last is very similar to that practiced by most other 
 tribes, called "striking the post, "and I think that the father s 
 mind was confused and hence he mingled two dances in his 
 account. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO m 
 
 a sure pledge of peace and union that shall continue 
 as long as it remains in the hands of this person. 
 
 "Among all the spirits to whom they make sacri 
 fices, they honor One particularly that is more prom 
 inent than the others because it is this One who has 
 created all things. They have such a desire to see 
 this Spirit that they make long fasts, hoping by this 
 means God will present Himself to them during their 
 troubled sleep; if it happens that they see Him, they 
 deem themselves happy and assured of a long life. 
 
 "All of the nations of the south have the same 
 wish to see God, which is without doubt a great 
 advantage for their conversion, for it only remains 
 to instruct them in the manner they should serve to 
 see Him and be happy. I have here published the 
 name of Jesus Christ to eighty persons of this 
 nation, and they have carried and published it to all 
 the country south, with praise, so that I can say 
 that at this mission, where I have least labored, is 
 where my labor has been most effective. Among 
 themselves they honor our Saviour in their fashion, 
 of whom they put the image that I have given them 
 in a place most honored when they make some cele 
 brated feast, and the master of the banquet addresses 
 himself to this image in an honorable tone. It is 
 Him they honor, the Man God, to Him they say: 
 We make this feast for Thee. It is to Thee that 
 we present these goods. I avow it is there where 
 appear the most beautiful fields for the Gospel. If 
 I had the leisure and the accommodations, I would 
 have gone among them to see with my own eyes the 
 good that to me has been recounted. I find those 
 with whom I have had to do affable and humane, 
 
112 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 and it is said that when they encounter some stranger 
 they make a cry of joy, caress him, and render to 
 him all the proofs of friendship they can. I have 
 only baptized one child of this nation. The seeds 
 of the Faith that I have sown in their souls will 
 bear fruits when the Master of the vine wishes to 
 gather it. 
 
 "Their country is warm, and they sow Indian 
 corn twice a year.* There are rattlesnakes that 
 often cause death, lacking, as they do, an antidote. f 
 They hold medicine in high esteem and present 
 sacrifices to it as to the Great Spirit. They have no 
 great forests, but very large prairies where the 
 buffalo, the deer, the bear, and other animals exist 
 in great numbers." 
 
 The father, in a later voyage to Green Bay, found 
 the savages in their winterquarters, which consisted 
 of a single village of Sacs, Pottawatomies, Foxes, 
 and Winnebagoes, in all six hundred people, more 
 or less. Farther on, along the Fox river of Wis 
 consin, were other villages of the Foxes, and about 
 a day s journey farther still were the Miamis. He 
 had gained a knowledge of all these people at the 
 "Mission of the Holy Spirit," on Lake Superior. 
 
 He began giving instructions to the Sacs early in 
 the year 1671. Later he embarked for the mission 
 of the Foxes, and says: "These people came in 
 
 * This is a mistake that is repeated in nearly all accounts 
 left by the French. That these people raised an early and a 
 late variety of corn, in order that the roasting ears might con 
 tinue for a long time, was as true then as it now is with us. 
 
 f Few things are now better known than that a certain plant 
 was used as an antidote and believed to be effective. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 113 
 
 flocks to see us; they said they came to see the 
 Manitou who was coming to their country; they 
 accompanied us with respect as far as the doors of a 
 cabin where we were made to enter." 
 
 The father then went westward to the village of 
 the Miamis, and thence returned to the Pottawato- 
 mies and Winnebagoes. 
 
 He visited the tribes in the vicinity of Green Bay 
 on the following year and found the natives highly 
 incensed against the French, who were trading with 
 them. 
 
 "They were abusing the French and robbing them 
 of their goods, and subjecting them to insults and 
 indignities. The natives had received ill-treatment 
 from the French, whom they had visited for purposes 
 of trade, and claimed to have suffered much from the 
 hands of the soldiers. In order to avenge themselves 
 these people had chosen forty of their young men, 
 appointed a captain whom they placed over them, 
 and thus formed a company of soldiers for the pur 
 pose of treating the Frenchmen who were in the 
 region in the same manner that the soldiers at the 
 French settlements had treated them. A council 
 was held with the same formalities that they had 
 seen at the settlement of the French. The newly- 
 made soldiers took it upon themselves to imitate 
 the ceremonies that had prevailed among the 
 French, but with the manner of savages. When it 
 was time to assemble they came to us with muskets 
 at shoulder arms, and hatchets instead of swords at 
 the belt. During the sitting of the assembly they 
 continued to do mock sentry duty at the cabin door, 
 in as dignified a way as they could, pacing, which 
 
II 4 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 the savages never do, with muskets first on one 
 shoulder, then on the other, striking astonishing 
 attitudes more and more ridiculous the more they 
 tried to act seriously. The father could hardly 
 refrain from laughter, although treating of impor 
 tant matters; viz., the mysteries of religion and 
 what one must do to not burn eternally in hell." 
 
 We read much in \hzjesuit Relations of the efforts 
 of the fathers to save the souls of the savages, and 
 some have told us that when they could not "win 
 them by presenting the beauties of heaven, they 
 frightened them by threats of the torments of hell." 
 The old men once called upon the father and tried 
 to justify themselves concerning the disorders which 
 the young men had been guilty of. As the father 
 had reprimanded them, they explained that their 
 soldiers had not used the French as badly as they 
 themselves had been used at the French settle 
 ments; that they had injured none, but bore the 
 marks of broken arms, cut hands, and other wounds 
 that had been inflicted upon them. 
 
 The fathers explain, in the Jesuit Relations, their 
 methods of reaching the hearts of the savages. 
 Father Allouez, for instance, reviewed the lessons 
 he had given them during the spring, touching upon 
 the sovereignty and unity of God and the incarna 
 tion of His Son; enlarged upon "some of the truths 
 more sensible and touching, as, for example, of 
 paradise and hell"; and in order to give a better 
 knowledge of the cause and to enter by means of the 
 eyes far into the hearts of those who came to listen, 
 he showed them a picture of the judgment and 
 took occasion to explain to them some of the 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 115 
 
 good fortunes of the saints and the torments of the 
 damned. 
 
 The Jesuit Relations are rich in expressions indi 
 cating the tender-heartedness of the fathers, but 
 such illustrations as the above lead us to believe 
 that that reputation was due to the fact that each 
 praised the other. Each lauded the other on the 
 results of his efforts, and they consoled themselves 
 with having secured the eternal salvation of so many, 
 the greater portion if not most of whom were 
 children baptized at the point of death. This 
 baptism in many instances was performed without 
 the knowledge of the parents. The adults were 
 slow in accepting the Christian religion. They 
 could not understand how it could be that people of 
 the Christian nation, France, could misbehave to 
 the extent they did and merit everlasting happiness, 
 while they (savage) lived moral lives. Deprived of 
 the knowledge of Christ, because of some wise pur 
 pose of the Creator, they could not believe that 
 they needed the interposition of the "black robes" 
 to save them. It still remains a question with 
 many not lacking in wisdom which should be man s 
 greater guide the natural or a so-called revealed 
 religion. They were ignorant of the latter, but 
 we are told that in general a day seldom passed with 
 an elderly Indian, or others who were esteemed 
 wise and good, in which a blessing was not asked 
 or thanks returned to the Giver of life; sometimes 
 audibly, but more generally in the devotional lan 
 guage of the heart. (Hunter s Memoirs?) We are 
 told of an Indian with whom one Brainard talked, 
 and who asked "why I desired the Indian to become 
 
ii6 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 a Christian, seeing that the Christians were so much 
 worse; that a Christian would lie, steal, and drink 
 worse than the Indian? It was they who first taught 
 the Indians to be drunk and then steal from one 
 another to that degree that their rulers were obliged 
 to hang them for it; but it was not sufficient to deter 
 others from it, and he supposed that if the Indians 
 should become Christians they would then be as bad 
 as these." (Halkitt, N. A. Indians, I., p. 245.) 
 
 While at the villages Father Allouez learned of 
 the accessibility of the great river that had been 
 known to the traders for many years. Through him 
 and others the Governor received information that 
 Nicolet, as early as 1634-35, had undoubtedly visited 
 it. (Benj. Suite, IV. H. Col, Vol. VIII., p. 188, 
 Notes on Jean Nicolet.) La Salle, possibly, had 
 journeyed on the great river the year previous to 
 the visit made by Joliet and Father Marquette.* 
 
 On the same occasion Father Allouez learned of 
 the branch of the Miami tribe whose people were of 
 "the great village of Maramek." All of the tribes 
 adjacent to Green Bay were visited in 1671 by Per- 
 rot, who was sent there as a deputy by Governor 
 Courcelles. Perrot was given command of the 
 region and had much to do, in later years, with all 
 the tribes, as we shall see, particularly the Pean- 
 guichia branch of the Miamis. (Shea s Charlevoix, 
 Vol. III., p. 166.) Father Charlevoix tells us that 
 Perrot visited the Miamis at Chicago, piloted there 
 by two Pottawatomies. Shea, in his translation of 
 Charlevoix s history, says, however, that Perrot 
 
 * See Ohio River on various maps left by Joliet, and "Recite 
 d un ami de 1 Abbe de GallineV (Margry, Vol. I, p. 345). 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 117 
 
 went no farther than Green Bay, which he calls the 
 "Bay of the Foxes and Miamis." His reason given 
 for saying this is that, as he claims, the Miamis 
 were not then at Chicago. It is no doubt true, 
 nevertheless, that one of the many branches of this 
 tribe was there. (N. Y. Col. Docs., IX., p. 70.) 
 
 The Foxes were one of the tribes that most 
 resented aggressions. They were the only people 
 stirred by the acts of Perrot and four holy fathers 
 and others who, in 1671, in the name of the king, 
 took possession of their country in the presence of 
 fourteen tribes that gathered there. The priests 
 planted a cross, trusting that it would produce the 
 fruits of Christianity. Upon a cedar tree, near by, 
 the French deputies posted the arms of France, 
 shouting three times, in a loud voice, the name of 
 the very high and very powerful monarch Louis 
 XIV., very Christian king of France and Navarre. 
 Thus they took possession of the country adjacent 
 to Sault Ste. Marie, lakes Huron and Superior, and 
 all the country, rivers and lakes tributary thereto, 
 as far as the sea to the south. Each raised high a 
 tuft of grass and shouted "Vive le Roi!" and all 
 shouting in unison, in French as well as in the lan 
 guage of the savages, declared the French nation in 
 possession of this great region, thereby making all 
 the nations subject to the laws of that country. 
 The French promised protection to the tribes from 
 invasion of their lands by their enemies, and all 
 that, as reward for acquiescence; but aside from 
 that by Perrot, little effort was ever made by any 
 to live up to the promises. The tribes had had 
 some experience with the French, and we do not 
 
ii8 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 wonder that the Foxes did not trust them and did 
 not take any stock in the good promises made; they 
 looked upon the good resolves as chaff in the wind. 
 
 Along the Fox river of Wisconsin, whither various 
 tribes gathered in shelter, on the west side of Lake 
 Michigan, in order to be less accessible to the 
 Iroquois, were the many villages visited by Father 
 Allouez, before referred to. Charlevoix speaks of 
 this visit as follows: 
 
 "He did not expect a good reception as some of 
 these Indians had been ill-treated by the Frenchmen 
 at Montreal, and the whole tribe had vowed ven 
 geance. The Foxes were estimated at nearly one 
 thousand families. The Miamis and Mascoutins 
 resorted to every expedient to dissuade the mis 
 sionary from delivering himself alone to the fury of 
 a provoked tribe, which, moreover, had never 
 appeared well disposed to harken to the tidings of 
 Christianity; but nothing could induce him to 
 change his design, and God blessed his courage. 
 He preached Jesus Christ to the Foxes, who admired 
 his resolution and his patience, and gradually 
 adopted humane ideas toward him. He baptized 
 the dying, and especially the children; many, even 
 on his departure, begged him to return to see them 
 and assured him that if he would take up his abode 
 with them he would find a cabin and a chapel 
 already erected." 
 
 Charlevoix, like those of whom he writes, and to 
 whom he gives the greatest credit for western dis 
 coveries, was a Jesuit, and his glorification of the 
 zeal of Marquette, the predecessor of Allouez, is 
 only surpassed by the attempts to heap unearned 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO ng 
 
 laurels on the father. He says: "Father Mar- 
 quette, on his part, labored quite usefully among 
 the Miamis at Chicago." This historian certainly 
 departs from the truth; he should have been guided, 
 as others have been since, by Marquette s own 
 story which tells us that his successes consisted in 
 baptizing a dying child, and that not at Chicago. 
 This holy duty, as a matter of fact, was performed 
 at the Illinois town opposite the Rock on which 
 Fort St. Louis was later built, on the first visit. On 
 his second visit he was detained by the severe win 
 ter of 1674-5 on the south branch of the Chicago 
 river, where he saw but few people, and hence in 
 his journal he did not claim to have been instru 
 mental in accomplishing anything material in the 
 line of religious duties. When spring approached 
 he proceeded to the Illinois town, where in 1673 he 
 had baptized the dying child, and there called 
 together a multitude of savages. He erected an 
 altar and explained to them the mysteries of his 
 holy religion. The fatal disease that ended his life 
 had made such progress, however, that his stay was 
 but of a few days duration. 
 
 The Miamis, about that time, were neighbors of 
 and friendly to the Illinois, and no doubt Marquette 
 met some of them. A large band of the Miamis 
 was later found on the St. Joseph river, where, on 
 his return from the discovery of the mouth of the 
 Mississippi river, La Salle commenced to establish 
 himself. (L Histoirde V Amerique Septentrionale par 
 La Potherie, II., p. 131.) 
 
 Father Allouez, if we may trust the accounts of 
 his zeal as found in the Jesuit Relations, was indeed 
 
120 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 indefatigable. During the year 1672-4 he labored 
 among the many people adjacent to Green Bay and 
 learned of many tribes far to the southward. He 
 says: "Farther westward is the Mission of St. 
 Mark, of the Outegamie, " and various other 
 nations, among whom and still farther westward are 
 tribes, the unpronounceable names of which he 
 gives. Among them he mentions "Marameg," 
 and near by the village of the "Miamis, whither 
 come the Illinois, the Kaskaskias, Peorias, Weato- 
 nons, Pepikokias, Kilatikas," etc.* This is a mix 
 ture of the Illinois, Miamis, and other tribes. The 
 Maramegs were a branch of the Chippewas, the 
 home-region of which tribe was around the Falls of 
 St. Mary and that portion of Michigan just south of 
 Lake Superior. They must not be confused with 
 the Miamis of "Maramek." (N. Y. Col. Docs., IX., 
 P- 
 
 * The father erred in this, for all the tribes mentioned were 
 near the Illinois river. 
 
Hundreds of arrow heads turned up by the plow, a 
 
 mile northeast of the old fort, tell where 
 
 the last stand was made. 
 
 The cemetery, Tama Reservation. The 
 graves are covered by logs to pro 
 tect those who there sleep 
 from the wolves and 
 curious white men. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 It was during 1672-3 the Jesuits again labored at 
 the Mission of St. Mark of the Outagamies (Foxes). 
 Father Allouez there baptized forty-eight persons, 
 three of whom died shortly after. Some of the 
 Foxes having been compelled to remain in their 
 village, on account of sickness, the father and his 
 party went to see them on their way up the river. 
 The party found, at a little distance from the town 
 opposite a small rapid, a great rock roughly carved 
 into the figure of a man, the face of which had been 
 painted red. It was pronounced an idol, because of 
 the fact that the Indians invoked it for fortunate 
 results of their voyages. It is probable that the 
 father as little understood the meaning of this piece 
 of rock and the alleged worship of it as did the 
 Indians understand him when they looked upon the 
 two bars of wood crossing each other, coupled with 
 the worship of the father. That seemed to them, 
 no doubt, ridiculous mummery over an idol in 
 another form. The father wrote, "We overturned 
 it into the water." He soon reached the cross that 
 had been planted in the village during the previous 
 winter, and went to say holy mass in the bark cabin 
 in the fort. A little farther on, led by smoke in the 
 woods, they found the village of the Foxes. The 
 party claims to have been heartily received by 
 the sick, when the latter learned the object of their 
 arrival, which was only to comfort them and noth- 
 
 121 
 
122 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 ing more; "for," adds the father, "I would not 
 allow the French with me to buy corn or anything 
 else." Several of the sick the father had baptized 
 the previous winter had died, and two more lingered 
 near death. He prepared them for their long jour 
 ney and noticed that one of them, named Joseph, a 
 Fox chief, in his prayers always asked for the pres 
 ent life. The father spoke to him of the life of 
 heaven. The chief told the father that he did not 
 think of death, as he was not yet very old, and 
 that he asked God for the life of the body. The 
 father labored two hours before he could bring the 
 chief to a Christian resignation to the will of God. 
 The chief was touched by the story of the cross, 
 when the father told him of the agony of Christ and 
 of the prayer he offered in the Garden of Olives. 
 The chief yielded then, and in spite of his long 
 sufferings, the father thought he saw a change in 
 him, for the chief took the crucifix and said his 
 prayers like that of our Lord, with perfect submis 
 sion and Christian indifference to life or death. 
 When confessing a good woman, the father asked 
 her whether she did not sometimes get angry. 
 "How can I get angry?" she replied; "I, who am 
 no longer counted among the living, and only a 
 dead body." Children were brought to the father 
 to be baptized. A young warrior had received an 
 arrow-shot in the thigh. The stone arrowhead had 
 remained in the flesh, producing a bad ulcer, which 
 had reduced him to a mere skeleton. The father 
 baptized him and named him Mark. It does not 
 seem to some that a heathen can be so quickly pre 
 pared, and that a drop of water, mumbled words, 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 123 
 
 and a Christian name can have the effect of insuring 
 him eternal happiness that was before denied him. 
 
 Chas. W. Colby says: "No one can read i\\e. Jesuit 
 Relations and believe that the zeal of the fathers did 
 not lead them to overstate their successes." (Amer. 
 Historical Review , Oct., 1901.) 
 
 Father Allouez administered the sacrament of 
 extreme unction to some of the dying, but could 
 not remain in the village, as the people were break 
 ing camp to go beaver hunting. Later in the winter 
 of 1673, having learned that the Foxes had returned 
 from their hunt earlier than usual, on account of a 
 Sac having killed one of the Foxes during the hunt, 
 the father again went to the village. The Heavenly 
 Spirit, claimed to have been instilled, did not 
 remain with these people. The Foxes who had 
 just returned from an embassy to the Iroquois, had 
 received a bad impression regarding the Christians, 
 and had communicated that impression to their 
 people. Added to this, the Sioux had killed thirty 
 persons, most of whom had prayed to God before 
 going to war. Because of the impression the 
 father found no encouragement and was obliged to 
 seek shelter from the elements unaided, as best he 
 could. He inveighed the Lord against the super 
 stition, the extraordinary license of having many 
 wives, and against exposing themselves naked. The 
 young men treated him insolently, but they never 
 contradicted him, even in their cabins and assem 
 blies; such silence was the result of good breeding 
 little practiced among civilized nations. The father 
 declared the chief to be infamous because of his 
 number of wives and because he would not listen 
 
124 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 when spoken to in regard to his salvation. Later 
 the chief came to the father with his youngest wife 
 and son, to pray, and he listened willingly when 
 exhorted to be satisfied with one wife and not seek 
 others. A band of young men blackened their 
 faces, entered the cabin of the father in the even 
 ing and said that they had come to sleep there so 
 that God might speak to them in their dreams and 
 promise to deliver their enemies to them. The 
 father says, regarding this visit: "I undeceived 
 them and made them pray to God, and they went 
 home quickly." A hundred warriors passed by the 
 chapel door, only one entering, and he one of those 
 baptized only a few days before. The father asked 
 those who favored prayer why they did not enter, 
 and they replied that prayer had caused them to 
 die during the previous summer. 
 
 The father said, in his report: "God wills that 
 this church be tried by tribulations." He had 
 grounds for hope, however, for during the previous 
 winter a band of young Foxes defeated eleven ca 
 noes of Sioux and attributed their victory to prayer, 
 for all had prayed before starting. Their account 
 of the aid that God had given them induced others 
 to pray. They had done so the previous summer, 
 the father later informs us, and marked a cross on 
 their shields; but of the nineteen, sixteen were cap 
 tured or killed, while out of another band of thirteen, 
 three were captured or killed. "This does not dis 
 courage," he continues, "nor will it ever prevent 
 some of the people from coming to receive instruc 
 tions." On one occasion the Elders entered the 
 cabin, and of them the father speaks as follows: 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 125 
 
 "They have some ideas that excite compassion; 
 time and the grace of the Holy Spirit will tame 
 these spirits truly savage. Softness, such as the 
 mercies of God, and the reward of paradise are 
 necessary to change these spirits, for some seem to 
 be barbarous to the last degree. They seem to be 
 resolved to either be burned and eaten by their 
 enemies, or to burn and eat their enemies. Their 
 enemies, after burning them, cut them in pieces, as 
 we do animals or fish, and cook them." 
 
 The opportunity to eat the flesh of a brave enemy 
 was eagerly sought; the belief being that the par 
 taking of it inspired bravery. While the father was 
 at the village some Sacs, who came from Green 
 Bay, caused a coldness among the neophytes by 
 telling them that only children prayed to God. 
 Others said: "How can we pray to God? He does 
 not love us; He loves our enemies, for He always 
 delivers us into their hands, and seldom delivers 
 any of them into ours." 
 
 A small party was going to war, and the old men 
 entered the cabin and put several questions to the 
 father. God gave the father grace to be able to 
 reply, and they admitted that they had been de 
 ceived and that he spoke the truth. They acknowl 
 edged that war was largely governed by fate; they 
 did not attribute defeat either to the strength or the 
 bravery of their enemies or to the lack of strategy 
 on the part of their own captains, but to fate, or to 
 the Great Spirit who gave one tribe to be eaten by 
 another when it pleased Him. They fasted in order 
 that the Great Spirit might speak to them, hoping 
 that He would say: "I will give you some of your 
 
126 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 enemies to eat; go and seek them." They declared 
 that one of the chiefs would certainly kill some of 
 their enemies, because the Manitou always spoke to 
 him. 
 
 The father tells us that he disabused the minds of 
 the savages; but his labors were interrupted by a 
 cold spell which crusted the snow to such an extent 
 that the hunting of the deer and elk became easy, 
 and hence the young men took to the woods, fol 
 lowed by the young women, who dressed the ani 
 mals and took the skins and flesh to the village. 
 The Foxes ofttimes made preparations for the hunt 
 by a long fast, sometimes protracted to even ten 
 days. They did much more, for while the men 
 were on the hunt, the children were obliged to fast 
 in order that they might dream of the bear which 
 their relatives were seeking, and they imagined 
 that the animals would be caught if seen in a dream 
 even by these children. 
 
 The father exultingly claimed to have taken pos 
 session of the infidel land in the name of Jesus 
 Christ by erecting a cross within the realm of Satan. 
 Hardly a person was seen in the village who did 
 not make the sign of the cross with deference. 
 "They even have such confidence in it," he tells us, 
 "that some of the young warriors, having formed a 
 company to wage war on the Sioux, appeared before 
 him to learn how they could insure a victory. He 
 related to them the story of Constantine, to encour 
 age them by that example, to have recourse to the 
 cross. They believed, for with their own hands 
 they marked their shields with this adorable sign; 
 every morning and evening they made it on them- 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 127 
 
 selves without fail; and on meeting the enemy, the 
 first thing they did was to make the sign of the 
 cross, after which they gave battle so confidently 
 that they won the victory and, upon returning 
 home, they celebrated the power of the cross, pro 
 claiming everywhere that they were solely indebted 
 to it for their success." 
 
 There is a strange mixture of sentiment and 
 prophecy regarding the discovery of the Mississippi 
 river. "Our Holy Faith," the father tells us in 
 the Relations, "is more and more gaining a foothold 
 among these people, and we have great hopes that 
 in a short time we will carry it as far as the famous 
 river named Mississippi, and perhaps even to the 
 South Sea, that the Gospel may extend as far south 
 ward as we are about to see it has northward." 
 
 This was in 1672, a year before the alleged dis 
 covery of the Mississippi river by Marquette, and 
 the fact that it was believed to enter the South Sea 
 late historians have shown very plainly, as seen in 
 the preceding pages. The belief that it entered the 
 Gulf of Mexico was founded not only upon its gen 
 eral course, as far as then known, but also upon the 
 fact that the Spanish maps of an early date showed 
 a great river entering the Gulf of Mexico at a point 
 not far from the actual mouth of the Mississippi, 
 and that De Soto had discovered it. La Salle s dis 
 covery of the mouth of the Mississippi was, more than 
 all, that of the commercial and strategic value of 
 the great river, and not merely one of geographical 
 location. 
 
 The eagerness of the Jesuit order to claim for its 
 priests the discovery of the Mississippi river was 
 
128 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 illustrated by Thevenot in a small book published 
 under date of 1681, which contains a map, stated by 
 him to be a copy of that of Marquette. It is seen 
 that the Mississippi river flows into the Gulf of 
 Mexico, and that adjacent to the gulf is placed the 
 word "Europeans." The river is shown as flowing 
 nearly southward from the mouth of the Arkansas 
 river to the gulf. Marquette supposed that the river 
 so flowed, but on his genuine map of the river it is 
 now shown below the mouth of the Arkansas. In 
 Joliet s map, however, it is shown, as may be seen, 
 emptying into the gulf. Thevenot must have bor 
 rowed more from Joliet than from Marquette, 
 although he claims to have followed the latter. 
 Another copy of the alleged Marquette map is in 
 the Lenox Library, and on it is the following: 
 "Map of the new discoveries that the Reverend 
 Fathers Jesuits have made in the year of 1672, con 
 tinued by the Reverend Father Jacques Marquette, 
 accompanied by some French in the year 1673," 
 etc. It will be noticed that the name of Joliet, who 
 was the head and front of the expedition, is unmen- 
 tioned. Comparing the Thevenot map with Mar- 
 quette s and Joliet s, it is seen that the resemblance 
 is closer to that of Joliet than to Marquette s. 
 Marquette learned nothing further of the Missis 
 sippi on the voyage he made to the Illinois country 
 in 1674, for he went by the return route of the 
 former voyage, and no farther southward than the 
 Illinois town near Starved Rock. He died six years 
 before the publication of Thevenot s book and of 
 the map in the Lenox Library. Again, comparing 
 closely the map copied in Thevenot s book with that 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 129 
 
 left by Joliet, it is found that the names of towns 
 and the general courses of rivers correspond very 
 nearly with Joliet s. His map is more correct than 
 that left by Marquette, although it was drawn from 
 memory; he having lost his original ones when 
 shipwrecked in the St. Lawrence. If Marquette, 
 before his death, had time to draw the Thevenot 
 map, he must have done so with the Joliet map, and 
 perhaps others, before him. The data for Mar- 
 quette s original map, as has been shown, was 
 mostly gathered before undertaking the journey. 
 But the map given by Thevenot shows features not 
 known until long after Marquette s death. 
 
 The Mission of St. Mark did not long hold its 
 own. Father Allouez visited the nation in 1676, 
 and tells us: "As for the Mission of the Outa- 
 gamie, where last year we planted a large cross in 
 the middle of their village, we hoped a great deal 
 from their conversion, since we see that our Lord has 
 made them share His cross. Last winter many of 
 them were killed by the Sioux. The summer fol 
 lowing their corn was injured by the frosts and they 
 gathered but little, and that little spoiled in the 
 autumn in the places where stored. During the past 
 winter many died from disease, and the Illinois 
 committed acts of hostility upon them and captured 
 many. During some visits I made I baptized seven 
 teen, among whom were ten adults who died after 
 baptism. Of the old Christians who numbered one 
 hundred and forty-four, twenty-seven died, upon 
 whom we had reason to believe God had mercy. 
 The Puants and the Sacs, who have stopped here in 
 our church during all Lent, came assiduously to 
 
I 3 o LOST MARAMECH 
 
 listen to our instructions and pray to God. We 
 have baptized seven children." 
 
 To Green Bay came the Sioux when they dared. 
 The lowas, the Illinois, Miamis, and many others 
 also came to trade among themselves and with the 
 French. Pipes from Minnesota are found in various 
 parts of the country, which is one of the indelible 
 records of the fact that trade was carried on over 
 long distances. This stone, catlinite of modern 
 geology, is found only in Pipestone county, Minne 
 sota, and is an argillaceous shale of a beautiful pink 
 color and takes a fine polish. The pipes have been 
 picked up in nearly every state of the Union; a fine 
 little specimen found its way to Maramech. 
 
 The honesty of the various tribes, including the 
 Foxes before being contaminated by the whites, was 
 proverbial, but it did not last. Whether the teach 
 ing of the fathers, who themselves found it neces 
 sary to preach honesty to the French traders, led 
 the natives to know that dishonesty was practiced 
 by the foreigners, we do not know. We do know, 
 however, that they soon lost their regard for the 
 rights of others. 
 
 La Salle, in the autumn of 1679, stopped at Green 
 Bay, added to his supplies and turned his canoes 
 southward along the western coast of Lake Michi 
 gan. Late in October adverse winds compelled him 
 to land. He went, as usual, into the woods to see 
 what he might discover, where he found "grapes 
 ripe and very good," of which the Recollet Fathers 
 made wine with which to celebrate mass. He also 
 observed fresh foot-prints, which prompted him to 
 rejoin his people to command them to be on their 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 131 
 
 guard and make no noise. They obeyed him for 
 some time but having perceived a bear and a deer 
 they could not resist the temptation of shooting at 
 them. This noise made them known to one hun 
 dred and twenty-five Foxes whose home was near 
 the extremity of Green Bay, but who were then 
 camping near the Frenchmen without any knowl 
 edge of such neighbors. La Salle, to whom the 
 presence of these people gave much anxiety, blamed 
 his men for their imprudence and, to prevent sur 
 prises, he put a sentinel near the canoes under which 
 his companions had put their cargoes to protect 
 them from the rain. He put another guard near 
 their campfires. These precautions were not suffi 
 cient to prevent thirty Foxes, favored by the 
 abundant rain and the negligence of the sentinel, 
 from creeping along the shore where were the arms 
 and supplies. Lying flat they arranged themselves 
 in a line, and the first one taking what he wished 
 passed it on to the nearest, and thus it went from 
 hand to hand to the last one. La Salle awoke and, 
 having raised himself to see if his sentinel was 
 doing his duty, saw something move, which 
 prompted him to require his men to take their arms 
 and occupy an eminence near which the Foxes were 
 obliged to pass. A part of these savages, seeing 
 themselves discovered, called out that they were 
 friends. La Salle responded that the hour was one 
 at which people came only to steal or kill those who 
 were not on their guard. They replied that in truth 
 the gunshots that they had heard made them believe 
 that a party of the hostile Iroquois was near; this 
 they said they believed because the neighboring 
 
132 
 
 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 savages did not use firearms; that they had advanced 
 thus with the intention of killing these supposed 
 enemies, but having recognized Frenchmen, whom 
 they regarded as brothers, their impatience held 
 them from waiting for daylight. La Salle feigned 
 to accept this reason and bade them approach to 
 the number of five or six only, because their young 
 men were accustomed to steal, and his people were 
 not in the humor to suffer anything of this kind. 
 Four or five men advanced and remained until the 
 approach of day, when he gave them permission to 
 retire. After their departure, he perceived what 
 had been stolen. He knew perfectly the humor of 
 the savages, and he knew that they would undertake 
 to do the same every night if he dissimulated in this 
 case. He caused his people to occupy an eminence 
 that was in the form of a peninsula, and he then 
 went out in search of some savage who had strayed 
 from the others. He had scarcely been gone a half 
 hour before he found the fresh tracks of a hunter. 
 He followed him, pistol in hand, and having imme 
 diately overtaken him, brought him to the place 
 where he had left the guard. After having informed 
 him of all the circumstances of the theft, he imme 
 diately went with two of his people and halted 
 another savage, evidently a more important person 
 age. He pointed out to him, in the distance, the 
 one he had taken prisoner, and sent him to say to 
 his people that he would kill their comrade if they 
 did not bring back all that had been stolen. This 
 proposition embarrassed the savages, because they 
 had cut some of the clothing to pieces to divide 
 among them, and consequently were not able to 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 133 
 
 return it entire. As these people have much friend 
 ship for each other, they resolved to take their com 
 rade by force. The next morning they advanced, 
 arms in hand, to begin the attack. The peninsula 
 where the French were was separated the distance 
 of a gunshot from the woods where the savages 
 appeared. La Salle noticed that, on the side of the 
 woods, there were several little knolls, the nearest 
 one to him commanding the others. He advanced 
 to occupy it with five men. Carrying their blan 
 kets, one-half wrapped around their left arms to 
 cover themselves against the arrows of the savages, 
 they advanced; they had already occupied all of 
 these eminences, but seeing that the French ap 
 proached to charge them, they abandoned the near 
 est one, which gave La Salle time to mount the 
 highest point. An act so daring intimidated the 
 savages to such an extent that, immediately after, 
 six of the old men approached, presenting the calu 
 met of peace, and having come near, on the assu 
 rance that they could do so without fear, they said 
 that they were carried to this extremity only because 
 of their inability to return what had been taken in 
 the condition that it was when taken, and that they 
 were ready to restore all that remained in good con 
 dition. They presented, at the same time, robes of 
 beaver skins to La Salle to conciliate him, excusing 
 themselves as best they could for the little value of 
 their presents. La Salle contented himself with 
 their apology, listened to their promises and par 
 doned them. The day following was passed in 
 dancing and feasts in which they begged La Salle to 
 remain with them and not try to go to the Illinois, 
 
134 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 which would be impossible, for the Illinois were 
 resolved to massacre all the Frenchmen because an 
 Iroquois, whom they had taken and burned, had 
 assured them that the war made on them by his 
 nation had been counselled by the French who hated 
 the Illinois. They added many similar reasons 
 which alarmed La Salle s party, and he felt much 
 uneasiness because of the fact that all savages he 
 had encountered on his route had said very nearly 
 the same thing. He knew this objection was inspired 
 by those who opposed his enterprise and made 
 plausible by the expressed fears of the savages to 
 whom the Illinois were renowned for their valor, 
 and who feared that the Illinois would become still 
 more haughty by receiving, through the French, a 
 knowledge of the use of firearms. He resolved, 
 however, to continue his route and take all the pre 
 cautions necessary for the protection of himself and 
 party. He thanked the Foxes for the advice they 
 had given, but said that he did not fear the Illinois 
 and that he felt his ability to dispose of them by 
 friendship or by force. La Salle and his party 
 departed the next day for the mouth of the St. 
 Joseph river, and were no more troubled by the 
 Foxes. He established peace among the various 
 tribes of the region forming his "Colonie. " (Margry, 
 Vol. I.) 
 
 In 1680 a band of Illinois and Miamis, possibly 
 those of Maramech, who were hunting on the St. 
 Joseph river, were attacked by a party of Iroquois, 
 who surprised them, killed thirty or forty and made 
 three hundred prisoners, composed of women and 
 children. (La Hontan, L, 169.) I believe that 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 135 
 
 this is one version of the attack upon the great 
 Indian town of Kaskaskia, opposite what is now 
 called Starved Rock, or that at least in it two 
 accounts are mixed. After the Iroquois had rested 
 they separated and started on a leisurely return to 
 their country, believing that they would regain their 
 villages before the Illinois and Miamis had time to 
 send runners to their people, then dispersed in 
 various distant places. The fact that the Illinois 
 and Miamis were away from home is made evident 
 by the further fact that the attacked were a party of 
 hunters, and it is probable also that a large portion 
 of the two tribes remained in the vicinity of Kas 
 kaskia and along the Fox river of Illinois, as far 
 north as Maramech, or farther. The Pestekouy, as 
 already shown, was the home of the branches of the 
 Miami tribes. 
 
 La Hontan evidently received this story through 
 the French or Indians, which accounts for the varia 
 tion from Tonty s official report of what may have 
 been the same encounter. The Iroquois deceived 
 themselves, we are told, to such an extent that the 
 Illinois and Miamis had time to rally to the number 
 of four hundred, resolved to die sooner than permit 
 their people to be taken away. As the parties were 
 unequal, the Illinois and Miamis made an effort to 
 find some good expedient and, after having well 
 considered the manner of attack, they concluded to 
 follow the Iroquois until rain might fall. Their 
 project succeeded, as the heavens seemed to favor 
 them. For a day the rain continued from morning 
 until night. They doubled their pace as soon as 
 the rain began to fall, and passing two leagues to 
 
136 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 the side of the Iroquois, took a position before the 
 latter and formed an ambuscade in the middle of 
 a prairie that the Iroquois must cross to gain the 
 woods where they intended to make their camp. 
 The Illinois and Miamis lying flat on the ground, in 
 the bushes and ferns, awaited the Iroquois. When 
 the latter were between them they let fly their 
 arrows and attacked so vigorously that the 
 Iroquois, not being able to use their guns, on 
 account of the priming being wet, were forced to 
 throw them away and defend themselves as best 
 they might, resorting to the same kind of arms as 
 those used by the attacking party. The Illinois 
 were more agile than the Iroquois, and the latter 
 were obliged to yield, fighting until darkness, after 
 having lost eighty of their warriors. The battle 
 would have continued into the night if the Illinois 
 and Miamis had not feared that their rescued prison 
 ers, being tied and remaining behind them, were 
 exposed to surprise in the darkness, so, after having 
 rejoined them and taken all the guns of the flying 
 Iroquois, thrown hither and thither, they returned 
 to their country without endeavoring to capture the 
 invaders. 
 
 The above is a fair specimen of the method of 
 warfare that was carried on between the eastern and 
 western tribes. La Hontan, in the same volume 
 (page 169), gives an instance of the strategy and 
 bravery that distinguished the Foxes. In 1683 ne 
 was preparing for his voyage of discovery up the 
 "Riviere Longue, " which river, by the way, evi 
 dently had its source, its mouth, and all its length 
 only in his brain. The Fox chiefs gave him guides. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 137 
 
 The story of the following encounter may be as 
 imaginary as his alleged discoveries along this 
 "Riviere Longue. " Be that as it may, the story 
 runs that a body of one thousand Iroquois came by 
 canoes, at the close of autumn, as far as the Bay of 
 Missisagues on Lake Huron, without being discov 
 ered, and there landed. As they were so numerous, 
 they carried with them nets by means of which they 
 expected to catch fish in the little lakes and rivers 
 while awaiting the approach of a freeze-up, which 
 occurred soon after. As soon as the ice was suffi 
 ciently strong they continued their route, coasting 
 Lake Huron five or six leagues to the south of Sault 
 Ste. Marie, to which place they dared not go, fear 
 ing to find coureurs du bois in the fort of the Jesuits. 
 Having traversed The Bay they judged proper to 
 march single file, one in the footsteps of another, in 
 order that, if their tracks were discovered, it should 
 appear that only thirty or forty had passed at most. 
 They marched in this manner until about the mid 
 dle of February without being perceived, but unfor 
 tunately for them four Sauteurs (people of the Sault 
 Ste. Marie, a branch of the Chippewa tribe), having 
 seen them pass in great numbers over a little lake, 
 ran to the hunting-grounds of the Foxes to inform 
 them of the danger, although their own tribes were 
 at war with the Foxes. They bore no love for the 
 Foxes and would have profited by their defeat but 
 for the fact that success of the Iroquois over the 
 smaller tribes would, in the end, mean their own 
 defeat by the conquering tribe. 
 
 About this time a thaw interfered with the inten 
 tions of the Iroquois, who yet counted on fifteen 
 
138 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 days of cold weather as was ordinarily the case dur 
 ing that part of the winter. They quickened their 
 pace, sought the straight paths and those less fre 
 quented. The Foxes were much embarrassed as to 
 the course they should pursue. It was true that the 
 warriors would be able to gain their village in all 
 safety, but to do so they would have been forced to 
 abandon their women and children, who had not 
 the strength to run as fast as the men. Finally, 
 after having held council, they resolved to advance 
 as far as a certain passage, a half league in length 
 (about one and two-tenths miles), and of thirty paces 
 breadth, between two little lakes, where they fore 
 saw that the Iroquois were likely to pass. The 
 Foxes numbered four hundred, and judged proper to 
 divide themselves into two bodies, one party of two 
 hundred holding one end of the passage, which they 
 fortified immediately by planting posts across from 
 one lake to the other, and the other two hundred 
 remained within a fourth of a league of the other 
 end of the passage in order that, after having pre 
 pared poles, they could run quickly and fortify 
 themselves. As soon as the Foxes discovered that 
 the Iroquois had all passed they ran with all speed, 
 carrying heavy poles to enclose the little strip of 
 land bordered by the two lakes. They had suffi 
 cient time to plant the poles and support them by 
 throwing up earth, before the Iroquois, astonished at 
 having found the road closed at the other end, had 
 retraced their steps only to see themselves closed 
 between two barriers. The Iroquois came "with all 
 legs," as the Baron puts it, to force the new barri 
 cade, but they fled at the first discharge made by the 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 139 
 
 Foxes. The Iroquois, seeing themselves thus closed 
 in, were led to believe that the number of the Foxes 
 was great. They questioned how to get out of their 
 prison; whether to throw themselves into the water 
 and cross one of the lakes, to do which would have 
 required much courage, for the distance was long, 
 the water very cold, and the ice not of sufficient 
 strength to sustain them. During this time the 
 Foxes fortified their barricades better and better, 
 and sent their runners to the other sides of the lakes 
 to kill all those who attempted to escape. In spite 
 of these precautions the Iroquois found an expe 
 dient, which was to make some rafts of the trees 
 which surrounded them; but the strokes of the 
 hatchets made the Foxes aware of the design that 
 they had in mind, which they believed to be to make 
 some canoes of skins of deer to pass over one of the 
 little lakes during the night. The rafts were made 
 in five or six days, during which time the Iroquois 
 caught fish in quantities, in full view of the Foxes, 
 who could not stop them. It only remained to 
 cross the lakes and fight at the place of landing in 
 case their secret crossing was discovered. In order 
 to succeed better they made an attempt of which 
 success would have been sure had the bottom of the 
 lake not been so muddy that the poles, by which 
 the rafts were moved, sank so deeply in the mud 
 that it was found exceedingly difficult to withdraw 
 them. This caused the Iroquois to move so slowly 
 that the Foxes had time to run to the other side of 
 the lake where they perceived the Iroquois, a mus 
 ket-shot from the shore. At the time they reached 
 a depth of only three feet the Iroquois threw them- 
 
140 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 selves into the water, vigorously endeavoring to 
 charge the Foxes who were no more than three hun 
 dred in number because they had left fifty men at 
 each of the barricades. It was a miracle that the 
 Iroquois were not all killed in gaining the shore, for 
 they sank into the mud as far as the knees. As this 
 was during the night, all of the strokes of the Foxes 
 were not effective although there were five hundred 
 Iroquois in the water, the rest having taken land in 
 spite of the resistance of the Foxes. The Iroquois, 
 once landed, attacked the Foxes so vigorously that 
 if the one hundred men left to guard the barricades 
 had not come promptly, upon hearing the gunshots, 
 the Foxes could not have held their ground. They 
 fought until daylight in a disordered way, dispersed 
 here and there in the woods, the people of the same 
 party killing one another without knowing it. The 
 Iroquois who, until that time were so obstinate as 
 not to concede the field of battle, because of their 
 wounded and also because they did not wish the 
 Foxes to take the scalps of their dead, were obliged 
 to fly, but were pursued. They rallied a league dis 
 tant. Being nearly to the number of three hun 
 dred, they were surely stronger than the Foxes, who 
 were enfeebled by having lost one-half of their 
 people in this fierce battle; besides all this, among 
 the two hundred who remained there were thirty 
 wounded. The Foxes, seeing the Iroquois depart, 
 returned to their homes without fear. Arriving at 
 their village, they acknowledged the services of the 
 two Sauteurs, who had informed them of the 
 approach of the Iroquois, proclaimed them great 
 chiefs of war and gave them one-half of the results 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 141 
 
 of their hunt. After having made all good cheer 
 possible and having heaped all honors of which 
 they were capable upon the Sauteurs, they sent 
 them by canoe to Sault Ste. Marie, by way of Green 
 Bay, with an escort of twenty warriors. The Sau 
 teurs in vain refused the presents brought by the 
 cortege, because the two nations were at war; but 
 the furs they were made to accept, and this led to 
 reconciliation of the two nations within four 
 months. The Foxes were usually successful in 
 their battles, but the risk they sometimes took is 
 well shown by the foregoing. 
 
The dancers, Tama Reservation. 
 
 The dog sacrifice, Tama Reservation 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 The superstitions of the natives of America 
 troubled the traders and explorers as little as the 
 dogmas of many of the denominations trouble the 
 business world to-day; but the fathers sought out 
 the superstitions of the Indians with a view to 
 eradicating them and, I fear, substituting others. 
 Father Hennepin had much to say about the super 
 stitions of the Indians and tells an interesting story 
 of what took place at the Falls of St. Anthony while 
 he and his party were there making the portage. 
 They noticed five or six Sioux who were in advance, 
 one of whom climbed an oak tree opposite the great 
 falls, where he was weeping bitterly. A well- 
 dressed beaver robe, whitened inside and trimmed 
 with porcupine quills, he offered as a sacrifice to the 
 falls. The father heard him say, while shedding 
 copious tears and addressing the Great Creator: 
 "Thou who art a spirit, grant that all the men of 
 our nation may pass here quietly without accident; 
 that we may kill buffalo in abundance, conquer our 
 enemies, and bring our captives here, some of whom 
 we will put to death before Thee. The Foxes have 
 killed our kindred. Grant that we may avenge 
 them." The reflective reader will not say that this 
 prayer differs much, except perhaps in degree, from 
 that of the One Hundred and Ninth Psalm, nor does 
 it differ much from the prayer of the present day, 
 when we ask that our Great Creator turn a cold 
 shoulder to our enemies and aid us. 
 
 143 
 
I 4 4 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 Peace made with the natives at the falls, the 
 father informs us the day was spent in dancing, 
 feasts, and speeches. A principal chief of these 
 Indians, turning toward the Recollets, said: "See 
 the Gray-Gowns for whom we feel great esteem; 
 they go barefooted like us; they despise the beaver 
 robes which we wish to give them without any hope 
 of return; they have no arms to kill us with; they 
 flatter and caress our little children and give them 
 beads for nothing, and those of our nation who 
 have carried furs to the villages of the French have 
 told us that the Great Chief of the French loves 
 them because they have left everything that the 
 French esteem most to come and visit us and remain 
 with us. You, who are the chief of those who are 
 here, arrange so as to make one of the Gray-Gowns 
 remain with us. We will give him a part of all we 
 have to eat, and we will take him to our villages 
 after we have killed some buffalo, and you who are 
 master arrange so as to also stay here with us. Do 
 not go to the Illinois, for we know that they wish to 
 massacre all the French. It will be impossible for 
 you to resist that numerous nation." 
 
 Some parts of Hennepin s story may be bits of 
 romance similar to that found in the second edition 
 of his book, where he claims to have floated down 
 the Mississippi river to its mouth, prior to La Salle s 
 voyage, making the journey from the mouth of the 
 Illinois river and back in an incredibly short time. 
 It is believed by some that Hennepin had nothing 
 to do with this fictitious claim, but that it was 
 inserted by the enterprising publisher of the second 
 edition, to add interest. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 145 
 
 The French traders had no sooner become well- 
 established on the great lakes than the people of 
 New England turned envious eyes thitherward. 
 The Foxes, never over-friendly with the French, 
 were instrumental, it is thought, in leading the Eng 
 lish on in that direction. During the year 1686 a 
 branch of the Fox tribe was located on the banks of 
 the Detroit river, and the English made every effort 
 to strengthen the friendship between themselves 
 and the Foxes by frequent messages and valuable 
 presents. No permanent settlement was made by 
 the French at Detroit until about fourteen years 
 later. Thus occupied, it was regarded by both the 
 French and English nations as a most important 
 point, commanding, as it did, a broad tract of 
 country even to the Mississippi river, and furnishing 
 a channel of navigation to the whole country border 
 ing the lakes. In view of this fact the establish 
 ment of a fortified post at Detroit was eagerly 
 sought for a long time by both. 
 
 Every smile of the English upon the tribe brought 
 a scowl to the brows of the French. The Iroquois 
 also claimed the west by right of conquest and, 
 through the latter, the English looked to gain a 
 hold on the western trade. The Foxes and Iroquois 
 were not always warring against each other; they 
 mingled, when at peace. The character of both 
 was such that it is not to be wondered that they 
 were said by General Smith, in his History of Wis 
 consin, to be of the same blood. He says: "The 
 Outagamies or Foxes who resided along the banks 
 of the Detroit river were of Iroquois descent, and 
 agitation of the English cause soon made their 
 
I 4 6 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 power known and severely felt by the French settle 
 ments. " No fact is better known, however, than 
 that the origin of the two tribes was as absolutely 
 distinct as the languages they spoke. The Iroquois 
 were Iroquois and the Foxes were Algonquins. 
 
 One of the most influential officers sent by the Gov 
 ernor of New France among the western tribes was 
 Nicholas Perrot, before referred to. He was dis 
 patched to the west in 1670 as an agent of the Gov 
 ernor to propose a congress of the western nations 
 at Sault Ste. Marie. (Smith s History of Wis., I., 32.) 
 The invitation was extended to all of the tribes of 
 the western lake regions. It was also carried to the 
 wandering hordes of the remotest north and west, 
 from Green Bay, by Pottawatomies. 
 
 The French gradually increased their trade west 
 ward, however, where they were welcomed, as much 
 as anything because they brought arms to the tribes 
 by which they could win in the wars against their 
 enemies farther on in the wilds. The Governor of 
 New France chose Perrot to make discoveries and 
 gain information among the natives because with 
 some of them he had become thoroughly acquainted, 
 having learned their languages well. 
 
 Soon after Perrot left Montreal on one of his 
 journeys his party met some Ottawas who informed 
 them that the Sauteurs had been destroyed by the 
 Foxes and that they (the Ottawas) were on their 
 way to the Governor to demand arms in exchange 
 for their furs, in order to avenge the Sauteurs. 
 
 Although these people had frequent quarrels 
 among themselves, for which others cared little, it 
 was at this time to the interests of the colony to 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 147 
 
 prevent them from destroying each other. (La 
 Potherie, II., p. 166.) Perrot promptly sent word 
 to the Governor, and the latter wrote to the Jesuit 
 Fathers and to the commandant at Mackinaw, 
 instructing them to prevent the Ottawas from under 
 taking anything against the Foxes. The Ottawas, 
 to whom the letters had been given for delivery, 
 fearing that the Governor might put some obstacles 
 in their way, burned the letters, with the exception 
 of those addressed to Perrot, because they imagined 
 that, being their friend, he would favor their 
 designs. All that they said to the fathers on their 
 arrival was that the Governor had consented to 
 their making "soup of the Foxes," this being their 
 way of speaking of an enemy whom they expected 
 to attack. The letters delivered to Perrot, how 
 ever, showed the contrary to be the case, for the 
 Governor expressly forbade them to attack the 
 Foxes and requested that Perrot adjust the differ 
 ences, which he proceeded to do. 
 
 A Sauteur chief had a daughter of eighteen years 
 of age who had been in slavery among the Foxes 
 for a year, and he had the apprehension that he 
 would be burned alive if he should go thither for 
 her. The various tribes of The Bay had carried 
 numbers of prisoners to the Foxes to purchase this 
 girl, but nothing could influence them. It was 
 feared, even, that she had already been sacrificed 
 to the shades of the Fox chief whom the Sauteurs 
 had killed. The father found no consolation, wher 
 ever he went, because these people said to him that 
 the Frenchmen had no influence among the Foxes, 
 and that his child would never be returned to him. 
 
I 4 8 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 Perrot undertook to restore the girl but required 
 the father to remain at The Bay for fear that the 
 Foxes would take and burn him, and passed on. 
 When first he arrived at the Fox village they 
 greeted him cordially and recited to him the treason 
 of the Sauteurs and the Sioux; they told him that 
 their great chief had been killed in the wars, with 
 twenty-six of their people, and, although outnum 
 bered, they had put the enemy to flight. These 
 complaints gave him occasion to speak of this 
 daughter and, having made them assemble, he 
 addressed them in strong words: "Old men of the 
 Fox tribe, chiefs and young men, listen to me. I 
 have known that, in order to make peace with the 
 Sauteurs and the Sioux, . . . the first had engaged 
 the Sioux to put you and your families in the ket 
 tles. It is the Great Spirit that has given us to 
 know the perilous war you have had. We have 
 prayed Him to have pity on you and He will be able 
 to deliver you from your enemies. . . . He met you 
 on the battlefield; you have made some prisoners, 
 and you have cut off the heads of those whom you 
 have killed, which is proof of the valor of savages; 
 ... it is the Spirit that has fought for you that you 
 should recognize as your liberator. What wish you 
 to do with this girl that you have held so long? Is 
 she able to quiet the resentment that you have 
 against her nation? She belongs to me, and I 
 demand her. I am her father. That is the senti 
 ment that prompts me to come to you as the first 
 Frenchman who has opened the doors of your 
 cabins. All these children of The Bay, who are 
 my children and your brothers, fear your refusal; 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 149 
 
 they fear the misfortunes that you menace; swallow 
 your desire for vengeance if you wish to live." 
 
 He had his calumet in hand while speaking to 
 them, which he presented to the lips of the brother 
 of the great chief to make him smoke, but it was 
 refused. He presented it to others, who received 
 it. Finally he refilled it and presented it again to 
 the first, three times, but it was rejected as before. 
 This led Perrot to leave in indignation. The tribe 
 was of two extractions, one calling themselves 
 Foxes, and the others Musquakees, "People of 
 the Red Earth." The one who refused to receive 
 the calumet was chief of the Foxes, having taken the 
 place of his brother. This chief of the People of 
 the Red Earth followed Perrot and brought him 
 into the cabin, where he also assembled all of the 
 old men and the warriors of his nation, saying to 
 them: 
 
 "You have heard Metaminens [Perrot], your 
 father, who wishes to give us life, and have heard 
 our brothers, the Foxes, who wish us to accept it. 
 . . . Bring me the kettles we will feast and I will 
 speak to them. I will test their good-will and 
 determine if they intend to refuse me. I have 
 always sustained them. My dear father and my 
 brothers exposed themselves always for them, hav 
 ing lost many young people in defending them. If 
 they refuse me, I will put out my fires and abandon 
 them to the fury of their enemies." 
 
 After they had brought the kettles and some 
 presents, he took his pipe and entered the cabin of 
 this headstrong man, with a company of his lieu 
 tenants, and said to him: "My comrade, behold the 
 
150 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 pipe of our ancestors who are dead. . . . They pre 
 sented it to thy people, who have never refused it. 
 I present it to thee, refilled [after a feast from these 
 kettles], and I pray thee to have pity on our chil 
 dren and give this savage woman to Metaminens, 
 who asks her of thee. He has always been our 
 father." 
 
 The chief of the Foxes then smoked and required 
 all his relatives to do the same. 
 
 The chief of the People of the Red Earth returned 
 to his cabin and said to Perrot that the affair was 
 settled; he should have the Sauteur woman. 
 
 There arose, during the night, so great a storm 
 that it seemed as if the world were being destroyed. 
 It rained very hard; the lightnings and thunders 
 made so great a disturbance that the people believed 
 themselves to be lost. As all savages are naturally 
 superstitious, they imagined that the Great Spirit 
 was angered against them. The fright had put them 
 beside themselves; they believed that the Spirit 
 was about to overwhelm them. Onkinumiassan 
 knew no longer where he was. . . . Metaminens 
 had changed his course because he knew well that 
 it was the only means by which he could get the 
 captive quickly. Onkinumiassan prayed the chief 
 of the Red Earths to take her to him; he dared not 
 present himself before Metaminens without the 
 woman. The chief replied: "It is for thee to give 
 her to him; ... he will not show to thee so much 
 of evil." So superstitious was this chief that he 
 believed Perrot to have brought on the storm as a 
 punishment to him. 
 
 The rain continued during the day. They entered 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 151 
 
 into the cabin of Perrot with the Sauteur woman, 
 beseeching him to stop the rain, which would 
 destroy them, and to prevent the Sauteurs and their 
 allies from any longer making war. He thanked 
 them again by a present of tobacco and a kettle, 
 saying to them that this kettle would serve them for 
 a roof to shield them from the rain,* and that they 
 could smoke peaceably and without fear that the 
 Spirit would punish them. Perrot, not believing 
 himself to be a good prophet, nor to have the 
 ability to make the rain stop, judged well that if he 
 should rest long enough in possession of the prisoner, 
 matters were likely to change. He took leave of 
 them, notwithstanding the bad weather, promising 
 them that it would become pleasant before he 
 arrived at The Bay. 
 
 The Foxes treated their prisoners with more 
 humanity than did most other tribes. A Shawnee 
 prisoner, who had been taken by the Iroquois, was 
 rescued by the Sauteurs, and finally sent by the 
 Pottawatomies back to his people, with a supply of 
 goods received from the French traders; this was 
 with a view to inducing his tribe to join them, as 
 La Salle had early planned and partly brought about. 
 
 Forty Shawnee warriors by these presents were 
 induced to establish themselves near the Pottawato 
 mies and surprised, during their voyage, some Iro 
 quois who were on their way from having made war 
 on the tribes neighboring Green Bay, of which they 
 
 * This metaphor was probably intended to impress upon them 
 the belief that the kindly feeling on the part of the Sauteurs, 
 induced by the giving up of the chief s daughter, was such as 
 to shelter them from attack. 
 
152 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 had killed and brought away several. They passed 
 by a village of Miamis, who received them so well 
 they could not refuse to give them the prisoners 
 they had taken from the Iroquois. The Miamis 
 sent the prisoners to the Foxes, to be eaten, in order 
 that the latter might avenge the occupants of the 
 five cabins the Iroquois had taken away a little 
 before. The Foxes, believing this a favorable 
 opportunity to make an exchange of prisoners how 
 ever, sent an ambassador to the Iroquois nation. 
 When the ambassador had turned the head of Lake 
 Michigan he found eight hundred Iroquois on their 
 way to attack the first village they might reach. 
 The Iroquois were calmed and gave their promise 
 to the ambassador that there should henceforth be a 
 barrier between his nation, including its allies, and 
 theirs, and that the river Chicagon [Chicago] should 
 be the limits of their war courses. 
 
 We are shown on early maps the Des Plaines 
 river as the Chicagou, and also, on other maps, the 
 well-known river that parts the great city, as having 
 its present name. Must it not then be that the 
 Iroquois promised this ambassador from the Fox 
 nation that the Chicago river, as we know it, or per 
 haps the Des Plaines, also called the Chicagou in 
 those days, should be the limit of their aggressions? 
 The indefiniteness of La Potherie leads me to believe 
 that historians have not dared locate many of the 
 tragedies and other events mentioned by him; the 
 fact is that we find no mention of such a river in 
 Nicholas Perrot s manuscript in this connection. 
 The caution I have so far exercised I shall relax 
 somewhat, while dealing in matters dwelt upon by 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 153 
 
 La Potherie with reference, as I believe, to past 
 events in the neighborhood of our great city of the 
 west, and the ancient "great village of Maramech. " 
 I am fully warranted in assuming that by "Chi- 
 cagon" (evidently one of the many errors in reading 
 the old French manuscripts) is meant "Chicagou. " 
 This last was the most common way of spelling the 
 name two centuries ago. 
 
 The claims made by the Iroquois to a great area 
 west of the Alleghany mountains were founded on 
 
 FRAGMENT OF JEFFREY S MAP NOT DATED. SHOWING WEST 
 ERN BOUNDS OF THE IROQUOIS. 
 
 previous conquests; but the line they drew did not 
 always bar their steps. The map on page 33, 
 sketched from Bowen and Gibson s of 1763, shows, 
 by dotted lines drawn along the Illinois river and, in 
 part following the Des Plaines (laid down as "Illi 
 nois or Chicagou river"), where the limits of the 
 Iroquois claims were understood to be when the 
 English took possession of the Mississippi valley. 
 The Iroquois sent the Fox ambassador to his tribe 
 
154 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 with one of their principal men and a young warrior, 
 and turned themselves against the Shawnees. This 
 principal man (a chief) passed by the towns of the 
 Miamis, Mascoutins, and Kickapoos, where he was 
 well received and presented with a quantity of 
 beaver skins. These nations deputed two Miamis 
 to accompany him on his return in order to treat 
 for peace. Going to the village of the Foxes they, 
 in turn, gave him proofs of their good-will, and he 
 finally arrived at Green Bay, where the people 
 expressed great joy and received him as a friend. 
 They made presents of furs, and also gave him two 
 large canoes to enable him to carry the presents he 
 had received. 
 
 The Iroquois army, deterred from their purpose 
 to attack the northern tribes, divided, sending six 
 hundred against the Shawnees who formed a part of 
 the Illinois confederation, while two hundred fol 
 lowed the Des Plaines river to Chicago,* where they 
 encountered some Illinois who were returning from 
 Mackinaw with some Ottawas, of whom they cap 
 tured and killed nineteen. The Illinois might have 
 attacked the Iroquois but, instead, sent deputies to 
 Governor Frontenac, and complained that the Iro 
 quois had violated the peace and said that, fearing 
 to displease him, they had not attacked the Iroquois 
 in return; they demanded justice through him. 
 
 The Governor sent word by M. de la Forest who, 
 in the absence of Tonty, commanded at the Illinois 
 village neath the frowning brow of what is now 
 
 *The Indian town and river were variously spelled: 
 Chigaiva, Chikagoua, Chikagawa, Chicagou, Chikagou and 
 many others. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 155 
 
 Starved Rock, that they must defend themselves if 
 again attacked, but must not be the aggressors. 
 
 Shortly after La Salle s first visit, one branch of 
 the Miamis placed themselves in his "Colonie," sixty 
 leagues distant from the river St. Joseph, because of 
 having had trouble with those who served the Recol- 
 lets who were brought to the river St Joseph by 
 La Salle. That the new village was at Maramech, 
 west of the boundary defined by the Iroquois, seems 
 probable because the Miamis would there be better 
 shielded from those terrible invaders. 
 
 It was "out of the frying-pan into the fire" with 
 the Foxes. The Iroquois had pledged themselves 
 to go no farther westward than the rivers I have 
 mentioned as limiting their boundary, which fact 
 gave the Foxes, now out of one danger, an oppor 
 tunity to renew the old quarrel with the Sauteurs, 
 which was not a marked success. 
 
 The Foxes formed a party of thirty young war 
 riors, who captured twelve Sauteur women and 
 children, and the news was at once carried to the set 
 tlements at Green Bay, where the French were asked 
 to go and request the Foxes to send back an Ottawa 
 and a Sokokis girl, but to keep the others until 
 were brought back some of the children of that tribe 
 that they had held several years. A Sauteur chief 
 who was present was shocked by the refusal of the 
 Foxes to return some of the prisoners. The French, 
 in their march, met two of their comrades whom the 
 Iroquois had wished to kill, but who had saved 
 themselves. When the French arrived at the vil 
 lage of the Foxes they called an assembly. One of 
 the Frenchmen spoke: 
 
1 5 6 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 "Foxes, listen to what I have to say. I have 
 learned that you have a strong desire to eat the flesh 
 of the French, and I have come to satisfy you with 
 these young men whom you see; put us in your ket 
 tles and satiate yourselves upon our flesh." Draw 
 ing his sword he threw open his garments. "My 
 flesh is salty; I do not believe, if you eat it, it can 
 pass the knot of your neck without causing you to 
 vomit." 
 
 The first chief of war responded: "What child 
 would eat his father, from whom he has received 
 life? Thou hast given the day to us when thou to 
 us hast brought the iron [guns] and now thou sayest 
 we would eat thee." 
 
 The Frenchman replied: "Thou hast reason to 
 say to me that I have given the day to thee, for 
 when I came in thy village all were miserable as 
 people who had nowhere to dwell and who wandered 
 to the farthest distances in the land. At present 
 you live in repose and enjoy the clear sky that I 
 have procured thee; you enjoy the light that I have 
 procured, and still you wish to trouble the earth, 
 kill the Sauteurs and subdue those that I have 
 adopted before thee vomit your prey; rend my 
 body which you wish to put in your kettles, but fear 
 the odor that shall from it arise, for you may excite 
 some vapors that shall form angry waves that will 
 sweep over your village which will be in one 
 moment consumed by the fire and lightning that 
 come from them, and that will be followed by a 
 hail that shall fall with such impetuosity upon your 
 families that they cannot be sheltered from it. Do 
 you remember your ancestors and yourselves, who 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 157 
 
 have been vagabonds to the present time? Are you 
 weary of well doing? Vomit! Believe your father 
 who does not wish to abandon you unless you com 
 pel him to do so. Listen to my words and I will 
 reconcile myself to the bad affairs that you have 
 made with the Sauteurs." 
 
 In Perrot s manuscript is found a proposed 
 address setting forth his ideas as to how the various 
 western tribes should have been approached in 
 regard to their intertribal relations, more partic 
 ularly concerning the Foxes: 
 
 "Listen, my children," said our Father Onontio; 
 "listen," said he; "I am pained to hear, all these 
 years, what has been told of the carnage that has 
 taken place in your countries, resulting in the 
 destruction of one another; I am horrified because 
 of the blood spilled and that which will be spilled. 
 Unless I put an end to it, I am assured that you will 
 soon destroy yourselves and that I shall have chil 
 dren no more. I love your people and your fam 
 ilies, and I wish them to live. 
 
 "Thou Ottawa, thou makest war against the Fox, 
 who has given thee life, having taken thy part 
 against the Miami, when thou wentest in the hunt 
 at the headwaters of the Black river, for he [the 
 Miami] would have killed thee but for him [the 
 Fox] and the Kickapous, who were opposed to his 
 [the Miami s] designs. 
 
 "Thou Sauteur, in the same time thou hast saved 
 the life of all the nation that was in Mamekagan 
 when Chingounabe invited the Miamis to attend his 
 dog feast. He intended to betray and devour thee, 
 if the Fox that thou regardest as thine enemy had 
 
158 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 consented to thy destruction. Thou hast, however, 
 killed him; he had only avenged himself when thou 
 compelled him to do it; but he has restored to thee 
 willingly thy people, and thou hast his people yet. 
 
 "Thou Miami, thou knowest that the Fox has 
 never gone to war against thee; he has defended 
 thee and has aided thee to avenge thyself when thou 
 hast been defeated by the Sioux. 
 
 "Thou . . . ,* thou art not ignorant that thy 
 chiefs died of sickness when the Fox was [gone] to 
 avenge the Miamis of the Crane, who would have 
 been defeated by the Sioux, if he [the Fox] had not 
 had pity; he has won them by presents and has 
 confirmed the alliance which thou hadst contracted 
 with him [the Sioux], with whom thou hast never 
 been in war, no more than with the Kickapou, who 
 has visited every village with him; whereas the other 
 Miamis have killed the relatives of thy people this 
 winter. 
 
 "Thou Illinois, thou never madest war against the 
 Fox, neither against the Kickapou; thou hast, how 
 ever, attacked him when he was at Detroit; he has 
 defended himself; you have killed one another; 
 thou hast avenged thyself when he was defeated at 
 Detroit, and when he returned to his country; he 
 took one of thy chiefs, whom he has sent back, and 
 thou hast killed his deputy; thou shouldst be satis 
 fied. 
 
 "Thou Pottawatomie, thy nation is half Sacs; the 
 Sacs are in part Foxes; thy cousins and thy brothers- 
 in-law are Foxes and Sacs. Pirimon and Ouene- 
 
 * Illegible in the manuscript. Mascoutins are thought to be 
 the people referred to. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 159 
 
 mek, who are thy chiefs, and who mourn the 
 murders which have been committed in thy families, 
 they are Sacs. I love you all, says your father 
 Onontio. I will extinguish the fires of war, which 
 are so brilliant that, besides all of you who have 
 been consumed by them, they will not fail to con 
 sume, from all quarters, the remainder, if I do not 
 extinguish them. 
 
 "Thou Huron, be content; thou hast lost thy 
 people, but thou shouldst be avenged [be satisfied 
 with what vengeance thou hast already had]. Thou 
 art too cruel; remember what thou hast done against 
 me and against my children, thy allies, since I have 
 taken up for thee against all, and since I have pro 
 tected thee, and if I had not protected thee, thou 
 wouldst be no more. Thou hast wished to betray 
 me on many occasions; and I have pardoned thee, 
 in order to gain thy gratitude. 
 
 "Thou Ottawa, thou hast killed the Miamis at 
 Detroit, who were under my protection; thou hast 
 assassinated some Frenchmen there at the same 
 time, and elsewhere. 
 
 "Thou Sauteur, thou hast, in like manner, killed 
 some Frenchmen; thou also hast killed some Mis- 
 sisakis. I have grieved for my dead, but I have not 
 chastened thee; and thou Miami, also; I have par 
 doned all. 
 
 "And very far from avenging myself, I have 
 defended thee against the Iroquois, who was one of 
 my faithful children that thou hast killed, and who 
 has never caused trouble since the last peace which 
 I succeeded in making between you, without which 
 he would have destroyed you all For he was capa- 
 
160 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 ble of destroying all, without asking from me any 
 thing but my will and consent; on the contrary, to 
 defend you, I have not only furnished you with 
 arms but, more, with my young men, who have 
 been entirely destroyed by you. I have even 
 defended you against the Fox, who has never killed 
 any of my people. 
 
 "I wish, my children, that this war might be 
 ended, and if any one does not obey me, I declare 
 myself against him and for the Fox. 
 
 "All the nations would have consented to peace. 
 This is why we ought not to fear to reproach them 
 for their vices any more than for [to reproach them 
 on account of] the services that we have rendered 
 them; for the character of the savage is not to for 
 get the good that has been done him [and we have 
 aided them] as opportunities have occurred. 
 
 "These, Your Highness, are my humble opinions, 
 which would have led to success if I had accom 
 panied M. De Louvigney. 
 
 "As to the Foxes, I would welcome the end of 
 them." 
 
Joseph Tisson, the interpreter, and child. 
 Tama Reservation. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 While De Nonville was Governor of New France, 
 in his attempts to defeat the Iroquois he allied the 
 western tribes. A body of the Miamis was stationed 
 at Chicago, and somewhere near the French had a 
 fort and trading-post. At one time three men were 
 heard approaching the post crying that the Miamis 
 were all dead; that the Iroquois had defeated them 
 at Chicagon (Chicago). They were requested to 
 enter the fort and, given an opportunity to smoke 
 and rest, they gradually regained their composure. 
 After they had eaten they were questioned as to the 
 news and said: "When you made presents this 
 autumn to Apichagan, chief of the Miamis, he 
 departed the next day to inform all the Miamis and 
 our people ot what you had said; he made them 
 consent to follow you. Two Frenchmen sent some 
 presents to the Miamis to say to them that Onontio* 
 wished that they establish themselves at Chicago. 
 Apichagan opposed this and said that his people 
 had all been killed at the river of St. Joseph, when 
 La Salle established them at that place. The French 
 sent some of their people, who declared to Apicha 
 gan, on the part of Onontio, that he would abandon 
 
 * When Montmagne, one of the early Governors, reached 
 Canada, his name was explained to the natives as meaning 
 Great Mountain, and hence after that time each Governor was 
 known as Onontio, that being the native word for such a phys 
 ical characteristic. 
 
 161 
 
162 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 them if they did not obey him. He requested them 
 to follow Perrot, who had given them life and had 
 prevented the slaughter of many of their families at 
 Chicago. The Miamis having arrived at Chicago, 
 the French requested them to hunt there and return 
 to the fort of the French to supply their needs. 
 Some of the Miamis who had not arrived at Chicago 
 were surprised by the Iroquois. A chief was taken 
 who, in his song of death, demanded of his enemies 
 that they spare his life; he assured them that he 
 would deliver his village to them if they would per 
 mit him to live.* Some hunters, members of these 
 families who *,had been to Chicago, returning to 
 their homes perceived afar a great encampment, and 
 they judged that their people had been defeated 
 and had fled to the fort to carry the news to the 
 French. The Miamis who were there consulted 
 whether they should make an assault or take flight. 
 A Sokoki who was among them warned them not to 
 trust the French, for they were friends of the 
 Iroquois. The Miamis believed him and fled in all 
 directions. The Iroquois came, conducted by the 
 Miami chief who had [offered to betray his village, 
 but found only four Frenchmen who had just arrived 
 from the Illinois, and attacked them. The Iroquois 
 pursued those who had fled from the village and 
 captured all the women and children. 
 
 The news of the defeat of the Miamis at Chicago 
 spread among the tribes, and a hundred Miami, 
 Mascoutin, Pottawatomie, and Fox warriors pur 
 sued the Iroquois and attacked them, tomahawk in 
 
 * Such cowardice was so uncommon among the Indians that 
 what is charged seems incredible. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 163 
 
 hand, with such fury that they killed a hundred of 
 them, retook half of their people and scattered the 
 Iroquois, who would have been defeated if the pur 
 suit had continued. (This is possibly the affair 
 mentioned by La Hontan, II., 167.) 
 
 The commandant in the west (La Potherie tells 
 us), presumably Perrot, came from his trading-post 
 among the Sioux and sent a tomahawk to each of 
 the various tribes, requesting them to join and 
 strike the Iroquois. On his way from his fort he saw 
 smoke which he believed was from an army of the 
 allies going against the Sioux. He met the Mas- 
 coutin chief, who was on his way to find him, and 
 was informed that the Foxes, Kickapoos, and other 
 people of The Bay had come to pillage his supplies 
 in order to get arms to aid them in their attacks on 
 the Sioux. 
 
 They had resolved to force the fort and kill all the 
 French if they made the least resistance. Three 
 spies were sent, who made the pretext of trade, and 
 reported, upon returning, that they had seen only 
 six Frenchmen, the commandant not being there. 
 Two more spies came the next day, ostensibly for 
 the purpose of trade. The French had taken the 
 precaution to put some loaded guns near the doors 
 of their cabins. In order that the savages might be 
 deceived as to the number of people, and to make 
 the deception more nearly complete, the French 
 changed their clothes occasionally. The savages 
 asked how many Frenchmen there were, and were 
 answered that there were forty, and that they were, 
 at that moment, awaiting others from the buffalo 
 hunt across the river. Seeing all the arms in readi- 
 
1 64 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 ness, the savages were led to reflect. The French 
 men told them that they were always ready in case 
 the savages came to attack them and, being on a 
 great trail, they always held themselves in readiness, 
 knowing the savages to be very inconstant, and told 
 them to bring the chiefs of each nation, as they had 
 something to say to them, but that if they ap 
 proached the fort in large numbers they would be 
 fired upon. Six of these chiefs came, who cast 
 away their bows and arrows at the doors, and were 
 permitted to enter. Seeing all the arms in readi 
 ness they asked the commandant if he feared his chil 
 dren. He replied that he was not embarrassed, as 
 he knew how to slay others. He told them that the 
 Great Spirit had informed him of their designs, 
 saying that they wished to carry away his effects in 
 order to go against the Sioux, and intended to put 
 him in the kettle. They admitted this was true and 
 hoped, as he was a father to them, that he would be 
 indulgent. 
 
 Next morning the army of savages approached 
 and claimed they wished to trade, but the French 
 men required one of the chiefs to mount the door of 
 the fort and tell them not to advance or they would 
 be killed; that the Spirit had informed Metaminens 
 [Perrot] of their resolution. 
 
 This trouble over, Perrot was then free to under 
 take to assemble recruits to go against the Iroquois, 
 some of whom were Foxes, some were Miamis of 
 Maramech, and some Pepikokias, then living near 
 the mouth of the Pestekouy (the Fox river of Illi 
 nois), some Mangokekis, west of the same river, 
 some Piankeshaws, east of the river, and some Kila- 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 165 
 
 taks, from the south side of the Illinois river. Some 
 of the latter would have perished of hunger had not 
 others had a sufficient supply to aid them. 
 
 It required many presents, however, to turn these 
 people against the dreaded Iroquois, the common 
 enemy. Very far from keeping their promise, they 
 amused themselves at buffalo hunts for a whole 
 month; the Foxes and Mascoutins were at war with 
 the Sioux, hoping to terrify the latter so that they 
 would not dare approach their villages while they 
 were making war on the Iroquois. 
 
 Perrot was made a prisoner by Mascoutins, who 
 were of one of the nations that had been particularly 
 benefited by him in matters of trade. They had 
 sent to him asking that he come and trade at their 
 village. He complied, accompanied by a Potta- 
 watomie chief and six Frenchmen. No sooner were 
 they there than the Mascoutins seized his merchan 
 dise. It was the custom among the savages to feed 
 well the prisoners who were to be burned, in order 
 that they might have strength to endure the tortures 
 of fire longer. One of the chiefs chided, saying that 
 they should care better for him. They wished to 
 sacrifice him to the shades of a number of their 
 people who had been killed on several occasions, 
 they said, for he had been the author of the deaths. 
 A warrior informed him that he was to be burned at 
 the rising of the sun, on the prairies; that he was a 
 sorcerer and had been the cause of the death of fifty 
 of their people to satisfy the shades of two French 
 men whom the Mascoutins had killed at Chicago. 
 He was told that if the French had merely avenged 
 themselves, nothing would have been said, for 
 
1 66 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 "blow should be paid for blow"; but that he had 
 been too cruel. 
 
 He awaited his fate calmly, but the Pottawatomie 
 chief, fearing for himself, sang his death song. 
 Perrot was taken from the village the next day with 
 the other Frenchmen, they complaining bitterly of 
 their fate. While this was taking place the Mas- 
 coutins busied themselves dividing Perrot s mer 
 chandise. 
 
 It resulted, however, that Perrot was not burned, 
 but made his escape; how has not been told us 
 except by Tailhan, who says that he was rescued by 
 the Foxes. 
 
 A Miami who had a Mascoutin wife saw the war 
 riors leaving with Perrot, and immediately gave 
 information to his nation that the Frenchman had 
 been pillaged and burned by the Mascoutins. The 
 chief of the Miamis was then engaged in war with 
 the Iroquois, but his tribe did not wait a moment, 
 after his arrival, to avenge the supposed death of 
 Perrot. The nations at The Bay were also in 
 formed, and they wished to raise the tomahawk and 
 chastise the Mascoutins. 
 
 This being, however, the time of the troubles with 
 the Iroquois, Perrot turned their warlike spirit to 
 account in that direction. 
 
 The Miamis of Maramech captured eight Loups, 
 to whom the English had given many presents. 
 They gave four of these prisoners to the command 
 ant of the branch of the Miami tribe living on the 
 river St. Joseph, and destined the others for the 
 French, their friends, who had rendered them sev 
 eral services. De Louvigney sent thirty-eight men 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 167 
 
 in quest of these people, with an order for them to 
 put the prisoners "in the kettle" (a figure of speech 
 meaning to kill, and sometimes, as well, to eat), if 
 they were not able to get them to Mackinac; but the 
 Miamis of the St. Joseph river had taken them 
 away. The Frenchmen presented the Miamis of 
 Maramech with fifty pounds of powder to engage 
 them in their interests. These Miamis marched to 
 the number of two hundred, but separated into four 
 parties after having divided the powder among 
 them. 
 
 The Miamis who remained at the village of Mara 
 mech made a solemn feast next day by order of the 
 great chief, to obtain from the Great Spirit a fortu 
 nate return of the warriors. They dressed an altar, 
 on which they put some bearskins, of which they 
 daubed the heads with green earth. As they passed 
 before the altar they bowed and knelt. All of the 
 people were obliged to assist in this ceremony. 
 Jugglers and the medicine-men, and those who 
 called themselves sorcerers, formed the first rank; 
 they held in hand their medicine-bags and their 
 implements of jugglery; they threw a spell over 
 those they wished to have die, who feigned to fall 
 dead; but the medicine-men put drugs between their 
 lips and resuscitated them by shaking them rudely. 
 The one that could make the most grotesque figure 
 drew the most admiration. They danced to the 
 sound of the drum and gourd rattles; they formed 
 into two parties, as enemies, and attacked and 
 defeated in turn. They had some skins of water- 
 adders and otters which, they said, produced death 
 to those on whom was thrown this spell, and they 
 
1 68 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 brought to life all that they wished. The master of 
 the ceremony, accompanied by two old men and two 
 women at his side, marched with gravity while going 
 to announce, at the doors of all the cabins of the 
 village, that the ceremony would immediately com 
 mence. They laid hands upon all they met, who 
 thanked them by dropping to the knee and embra 
 cing their legs. One saw nothing but dancing, and 
 heard nothing but the howls of the dogs that were 
 killed for the sacrificial feast. The bones of those 
 they had eaten were then burned, as at a holocaust. 
 The persons who were killed and resuscitated 
 danced separately, while some remained as if dead. 
 Men, women, and girls, and young persons of the 
 age of twelve years, fell dead and were resuscitated. 
 The jugglers, the medicine-men and the sorcerers 
 were each fitted out with their finest ornaments. 
 Some thrust sticks a foot and a half in length, and 
 the size of the thumb, down their throats and simu 
 lated death; but medicine was given them that 
 brought them to life and set them dancing again. 
 Others swallowed the feathers of swans and eagles, 
 which they withdrew and then fell as dead and, in 
 turn, were resuscitated also. One recognized in 
 their movements nothing more than artifices most 
 diabolical. The wealth of all the people was divided 
 among the jugglers. 
 
 The ceremonies continued day and night for five 
 days. They sought the cabins at night and the pub 
 lic places during the day, marching always in pro 
 cession. It was represented to them that what they 
 did was criminal before God. They responded that, 
 on the contrary, this was the proper means to influ- 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 169 
 
 ence the Great Spirit to deliver the enemy to their 
 young people, who would perish in war if this 
 solemnity were not observed. 
 
 It resulted that one of the parties returned, at the 
 end of thirty days, and had killed several Iroquois 
 without having lost one of their people. They 
 asked the French: "Believe you that the Great 
 Spirit has listened to our prayers?" The other 
 parties returned somewhat later with several prison 
 ers and the Loups that the Miamis of St. Joseph 
 had held. 
 
 Does it seem possible that where now, on sum 
 mer nights, laughter echoes midst the maples and 
 the whip-poor-wills mock the music at the camp- 
 fires, where Sylvan Spring, like a well-filled goblet, 
 pours Nature s nectar o er its brim, where now to 
 sigh is madness, and where, within the hearing of 
 the dullest ears, the bells and choirs call to lesser 
 superstitious practices, all this took place? 
 
 The Mascoutins at last wished to draw Perrot to 
 them, and one of the tribe arrived at Maramech and 
 assured him that they would satisfy him for the 
 loss of his merchandise. The Miamis, who knew 
 that the Mascoutins wished only to capture him, 
 brusquely demanded of them if they believed he 
 was a dog that one could chase away when he 
 troubled them, and make return by a caress. 
 
 The Mascoutins had learned that all of the people 
 of The Bay, the Miamis and others, had wished to 
 avenge the insult they had offered, and sent two 
 deputies to pray Perrot not to depart from Mara- 
 
i;o LOST MARAMECH 
 
 mech, where they wished to speak to him. Their 
 chief came, with several warriors, and entered the 
 cabin of the Miamis, where they assembled many of 
 the] principal men of the nation and some Kicka- 
 poos; the latter had brought a slave and three chil 
 dren, whom they made sit before Perrot. The 
 Mascoutins said that they had only borrowed the 
 guns, at the same time presenting the slave. They 
 made various other presents, accompanied by 
 remarks [to the effect that they had only taken the 
 merchandise on credit. 
 
 Perrot did not succeed in getting the Miamis of 
 Maramech nor the small branch of the Miami tribe 
 that had established itself on the west side of the 
 Mississippi river, near the lead mines, to join those 
 located on the St. Joseph river. They did not feel 
 safe where they were, for they did not take any 
 stock in the promise made by the Iroquois that 
 their westward excursions should be limited by the 
 Chicago river. (La Potherie, II., 316.) 
 
 The ambition of the Iroquois was still ultimately 
 to destroy the Illinois, as they had long sought to 
 do, and hence, in order to allay the fears of those 
 who would otherwise ally themselves with the Illi 
 nois, they declared the limit of their claims of pos 
 session to be as later shown on Jeffrey s map of 
 1777, by a dotted line. On Gibson s map is this 
 legend: "The pecked line extending by the Illinois 
 through Quadaghe cross the Lakes, Illinois and 
 Hurons, shows the bounds of the territories of the 
 Six Nations, which by deed of sale they surrendered 
 to the Crown of Great Britain in 1701, and renewed 
 in 1726 and 1744." 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 171 
 
 An envoy was sent to tell the people of the Miami 
 village on the other side of the Mississippi river, 
 that the Governor of New France had something 
 important to tell them. They were informed that 
 they were useless to the Governor in the place 
 where they were; that they were not provided with 
 munitions of war and would not be able to get any, 
 if the Iroquois should turn their tomahawks against 
 them; and that they ought to understand that the 
 Sioux might easily fall upon them also, should the 
 Sioux wish to avenge their dead against the Mas- 
 coutins. 
 
 The people of this village "promised to place 
 their fires atMaramech." They would have placed 
 them on the river St. Joseph, at the solicitation of 
 the chief of that region, but he refused to give them 
 powder and ball. He certainly did stand in his own 
 light, as they declared, and it is probable that this 
 branch of the Miamis believed themselves safer at 
 Maramech, on the Fox river of Illinois, beyond the 
 line limiting the claims of the Iroquois. 
 
 The Mascoutins had failed in their stroke against 
 the Sioux, with whom they were at that time at 
 war, and fear that the branch of Miamis on the Mis 
 sissippi might ally themselves with the Sioux 
 against them induced the Mascoutins to send one 
 of their chiefs to Maramech to sound carefully the 
 Miamis of that region as to any possible intentions 
 against them. 
 
 The affairs among the tribes were decidedly 
 mixed. The Foxes had received some Iroquois 
 prisoners from the Miamis of Chicago. Policy pre 
 vented them from burning these captives, for they 
 
1 72 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 hoped that, in case the Sioux came against them, 
 they could throw themselves, with their families, 
 on the Iroquois and, with these prisoners, pave the 
 way to a peaceful union. 
 
 In their efforts to get the Miamis of Maramech to 
 abandon their fires, the Governor finally commanded 
 that they be given powder in order that their fam 
 ilies might subsist during the journey to the St. 
 Joseph, and to kill any Iroquois whom they might 
 encounter. 
 
 Returning to the Foxes, La Potherie tells us that 
 at one time they built a new village of more than 
 six hundred cabins and invited the Sacs, then near 
 them on the Wisconsin river, to share it with them. 
 The Sacs sent deputies, accompanied by some 
 Frenchmen, to investigate and consider the pro 
 priety of accepting the invitation. They found the 
 people destitute. The Foxes had only about five 
 or six hatchets, all without edges, which served 
 each family, in turn, to cut wood; scarcely had they 
 an awl or knife to each cabin. They cut their 
 meat with the flints of their arrows, and scaled fish 
 with clam shells. The misery of the people was 
 great enough to excite compassion among the 
 French. They were so thin that whenever they had 
 eaten their fill they appeared malformed; in feature 
 they were disagreeable, of voice brutal, and of 
 visage bad. They acted as though they thought the 
 French should give up to them all they had; the 
 fact was that they had but few beaver skins with 
 which they found it possible to buy anything. Such 
 was often the impoverished condition reached by 
 these people. (La Potherie, II., 98.) 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 173 
 
 The custom among the western tribes to heal 
 wounds, as they termed it, by means of presents, is 
 well shown in the case of a Sac at this Fox village, 
 who was bathing in the river, when a Frenchman 
 came and bantered the Sac to let him shoot one of 
 his arrows. The Sac, having a bit of "cloth, held it 
 as a target, but the Frenchman s aim was not good 
 and, as the Sac was not quick enough to "dodge, the 
 arrow struck his shoulder and he yelled that the 
 Frenchman had killed him. Perrot ran to him, 
 pulled out the arrow and made him a present of a 
 knife, a little vermilion, with which to beautify his 
 face, and a piece of tobacco. The presents were 
 sufficient to appease him, but his comrades prepared 
 to avenge the injury and sought the Frenchman, but 
 were dissuaded by the Sac, who shouted: "Where 
 are you going? I am cured. Metaminens has 
 healed me by this ointment that you see on the 
 wound, and I am no longer suffering any injury." 
 
 With these people the name given by the parent 
 to a child was usually ignored as the individual 
 advanced in years, and special names given, often 
 prompted by fancy. Once accepted the name 
 remained, for a time at least, by common consent. 
 So it was that Perrot, the friend of all northern 
 tribes, was known as Metaminens, the word mean 
 ing "Little Corn." May not the title have been 
 chosen because, of all the French who came among 
 them, he best suited their needs and fancies, and to 
 him they gave the name of that variety of the pride 
 of their fields which, when parched, served best 
 their needs when on long war excursions? 
 
 Trade had given the Hurons advantages that were 
 
174 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 soon sought by other tribes, some of whom had been 
 driven west of the Mississippi by the Iroquois. 
 The Miamis, Mascoutins, Kickapoos, and fifty fam 
 ilies of Illinois also chose to be near the French 
 post at Green Bay, because they needed knives and 
 hatchets, such as they had seen in the hands of the 
 Hurons. They chose to make their fields about 
 seventy miles south of one of the villages of the 
 Foxes. This probably placed them some distance 
 below the head waters of the river then known as 
 Pestekouy. The Illinois and Miamis had long 
 made their fields and hunted over the surrounding 
 prairies and had run the woods that bordered the 
 beautiful river, and the bones of their fathers called 
 them back to their old homes on its shores. To 
 them eventually came the French, led by Perrot, 
 accompanied by some Mascoutins. A Miami 
 among them, owning a gun, was sent before to 
 announce the coming, which he did by firing within 
 earshot of the village. They were welcomed by an 
 old man and woman, who carried an earthen pot of 
 newly-prepared succotash; it was in the season of 
 the withering of the silks of the corn and when the 
 beans were most tender. How the French must 
 have relished the luxury brought from the native 
 cornfields and gardens that, mixed and boiled, we 
 know to be so toothsome! We well may thank 
 those crude people who taught our mothers to pre 
 pare the primitive dish, one of the most enjoyable 
 served to the hungry. 
 
 The old man bore a calumet cut out of the red 
 stone brought from the pipestone quarries of Minne 
 sota, its long stem ornamented with the heads of the 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 175 
 
 brilliant woodpeckers and, at its middle, a bunch of 
 red feathers. When he saw Perrot, the leader of the 
 French, he presented the calumet. Holding it to 
 the sun he uttered words seemingly addressed to 
 all of the many spirits adored by his people. As if 
 addressing the god of day, in his course, he held it 
 first to the east and then to the reddening west. 
 Many evolutions followed, all seemingly accom 
 panied by words of prayer and seeming praise that 
 the French had been permitted to come among 
 them. A buffalo-robe, "its hair soft as silk," 
 was spread on the grass and Perrot and his com 
 panion requested to sit. The old man failing, on 
 account of the dampness, to get fire to light the 
 calumet by rubbing two pieces of wood together, 
 Perrot astonished them all with his steel, flint, and 
 punk. To them the steel seemed to be a spirit a 
 new one to be added to their already too long list. 
 All then smoked and a feast of soup was prepared, 
 made from dried meats, and followed by a dessert 
 of the juice of stalks of ripening corn. 
 
 Passing on, frequent halts were made until finally 
 they reached a hill, on the slope of which was a 
 great village composed of various tribes. The chief 
 of the Miamis met them at the shore, at the head 
 of three thousand men, calumet in hand. A chief 
 of war raised Perrot on his shoulders and, accom 
 panied by the musicians, carried him to the village. 
 This village must have been one of the many that 
 were located in the "Colonie du Sr. de La Salle," 
 the principal one of which was Maramech. The 
 Mascoutins who had brought him turned him over 
 to the Miamis to be cared for, but the latter were 
 
i;6 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 loth to deprive them of the company of the French 
 man. Perrot was given fifty guards to prevent 
 annoyance by the crowds of curious people. A feast 
 was given, served on wooden dishes that looked 
 more like troughs than plates. The foods were 
 soaked with buffalo fat. Particular attention was 
 paid to Perrot by the attendants who, presumably, 
 expected ample rewards. The Frenchman pre 
 sented a gun and kettle, and in an address praised 
 the people, particularly in regard to their physical 
 characteristics. Finally he cast more than a dozen 
 awls and knives, saying: "Leave your awls of 
 bone; those of the French will serve you better, 
 and these knives will be more useful to you in dress 
 ing your beavers and cutting your meats than are 
 your own made of stone." The Miamis apologized, 
 regretting that they had not beavers upon which 
 they might feast the Frenchmen. 
 
 An alliance of all these tribes was brought about 
 by the interposition of Perrot, and at the end of 
 eight days a feast was made to thank the sun for 
 lighting his way to their village. In his cabin the 
 great chief of the Miamis had erected an altar, upon 
 which he had caused to be put his medicine-bag in 
 which his charms were carried. Perrot, not approv 
 ing the ceremonies, said that he worshipped a God 
 who forbade him to eat anything sacrificed to evil 
 spirits. They were greatly surprised by this refusal 
 and requested him, after removing their charms, to 
 then eat of what had been prepared. The chief also 
 prayed Perrot to promise the true God that hence 
 forth he would give Him preference because his own 
 god had not taught them to make hatchets and ket- 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 177 
 
 ties and all things of the kinds brought by the 
 French; and that he would hope, in worshipping 
 Him, to obtain all the knowledge that the French 
 had. 
 
 All of these tribes deliberated in council whether, 
 having few furs and being short of provisions for 
 their families, they should go with the French to 
 Montreal. Deciding to go, they made great prepa 
 rations, beginning with a solemn feast. The even 
 ing before their departure they fired volleys of 
 musketry in the village. Three men also sang all 
 the night without ceasing, invoking, from time to 
 time, different gods. They sang to Michapous, the 
 great hare, their most influential god, then to the 
 god of the lakes, of the rivers and of the forests, 
 praying the winds, the thunder, the storms, and the 
 tempests to be favorable to them during their 
 voyage. 
 
 In the morning the village crier called the men to 
 the cabins where the feast was to be served. There 
 came the singers of the night before, the first one 
 stationed at the door of the cabin, the second at 
 the center, and the third at the extreme end, armed 
 with quivers, bows, and arrows, the face and all the 
 body of each blackened with coals from the fires, 
 and each performed his part. They sang their 
 songs, each in turn. Twenty nude and painted 
 young men entered, decorated with crow feathers 
 and belts of otter skins. Vigorous dancing fol 
 lowed; so vigorous, in fact, as to frighten the women 
 and children. Sixty volunteered to go with the 
 Frenchmen, and later seventy more joined them at 
 Sault Ste. Marie, 
 
178 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 While these were passing the portage at the head 
 of the Ottawa river, on their way to Montreal, they 
 were requested by the Nipissings to pay toll; in 
 fact, a large part of their furs were required to gain 
 permission to pass. This incident shows that the 
 Foxes along the Wisconsin river were not alone in 
 exacting toll. 
 
 Perrot repaired, on another mission of friendship, 
 to the Miamis at Chicago. We learn from early 
 accounts that the Miamis had a village on the river 
 of that name, and it is probable, several of them. 
 This tribe was also, in part, located near the Illinois 
 town of Kaskaskia, opposite Fort St. Louis, and 
 Maramech was on the great trail that passed directly 
 from the Miami and the Illinois villages to Chicago. 
 
 Perrot visited Maramech, as previously stated, as 
 a representative of the Governor of New France in 
 all matters pertaining to the tribes that were allied 
 to the French. During the years that Perrot rep 
 resented the government in the west he visited the 
 various Miami tribes, in 1692-3 was at "Malamet" 
 (Maramech) on the river Pestekouy (now the Fox 
 river of Illinois) and not on the Kalamazoo, as 
 supposed by O Callaghan, who is followed by 
 Margry, in Chain of Posts* Neither the birch-bark 
 canoes nor dugouts were sufficiently seaworthy to 
 cross the lake, and Perrot, to be in the "way" between 
 the Iroquois and the Algonquin nations, could not 
 have been at the Kalamazoo, but plainly on the 
 Pestekouy, as is seen by Franquelin s maps of 1684, 
 1687, anc * J 688, and a score of other old maps. That 
 
 * For a discussion of this subject see ante pages 70-75. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 179 
 
 great concourses of Indians repaired to the actual 
 "Maramech" is evident by relics there found, sug 
 gesting a trading station, and by the great area cov 
 ered by that and possibly both earlier and later 
 towns. In 1694 Nicholas Perrot arrived at Mon 
 treal from the west with the Ottawas and farthest 
 nations, with ten or twelve canoes of Pottawatomies, 
 Sacs, Folles-Avoines (Winnebagoes), Foxes, and 
 "Miamis of Maramek. " Every one of these tribes 
 was from the west side of Lake Michigan, and the 
 "Miamis of Maramek" were that branch of the tribe 
 that often warred against the Foxes and Sioux, and 
 that often joined one or the other. The chief Mes- 
 sitonga, a "Miami of Maramek," said: "When the 
 Sioux kills me, I bow my head and recollect my 
 father has forbidden me to turn my tomahawk 
 against him." The fact that Messitonga spoke of 
 being killed by the Sioux shows clearly that the 
 great barrier, Lake Michigan, was not between him 
 and the Sioux; that the Illinois, the Miamis of Chi 
 cago, the Pottawatomies and Menominees, the 
 Ottawas, Sacs, and Foxes, Kickapoos, and Mas- 
 coutins, most of whom were from time to time at 
 war with the Sioux, were not on the way (route) 
 between him and the English, if he was on the 
 Kalamazoo. At a great council held in 1694, where 
 the various western tribes were represented, Perrot 
 spoke for the "Pepicoquis, who also are Miamis of 
 Maramek." The Pepicokias, near neighbors of the 
 Miamis of Maramek, were far from the Kalamazoo, 
 which is across the lake from the Maramech of 
 Franquelin s map; they fished and hunted along the 
 beautiful Pestekouy and there chased the buffalo 
 
i8o LOST MARAMECH 
 
 on all of the five prairies that approached Maramech 
 and the river it adorned, which prairies formed a 
 great range that was the typical locality of the wild 
 ox of America; the river being called the Pestekouy 
 by the Algonquins, the name also being that of the 
 buffalo. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 In 1672 Allouez met the "Machkoutench, Mara- 
 meg, Kikaboua, Illinoie, Pepikoukia, Kilatika," and 
 others, all later mapped in the so-called "Colonie du 
 Sr. de La Salle." He says (Relations, 1672): "They 
 were deeper in the woods" (from the Mission of St. 
 Francis Xavier); but he errs by later saying that 
 they were to the "westward," for they were, in fact, 
 on the "Pestekouy" river, which heads within a few 
 leagues of the site of his ancient mission at Green 
 Bay. They were not the Maramegs of the Chip- 
 pewa tribe, north of Lake Superior, nor were they 
 people of the river "Maramec" of Michigan, for 
 unquestionably they were in the very midst of the 
 tribes he mentions, where La Salle later found them. 
 They were of the "Great Village of Maramek" 
 referred to in the reports of 1695 (^ ^ Cl* Docs.^ 
 IX., 621-624), where we read: "Sieur Perrot pre 
 sented a robe on the part of the Pepicoquis, who 
 also are Miamis of Maramek." 
 
 It is believed that the Foxes got more than their 
 share of blame for the depredations along the Wis 
 consin river, from the fact that the Mascoutins, their 
 near neighbors, often outdid them in acts of barbarity. 
 While Perrot was commandant at Maramech these 
 tribes united in an attack on the Sioux. Perrot had 
 a fort and trading post on the west side of the Mis 
 sissippi, "opposite the lead mines," where the lowas 
 and Sioux came to trade. The Mascoutins and 
 
 181 
 
182 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 Foxes, being "at war with the Sioux, claimed that 
 the traders were supplying arms to their enemy, and 
 planned to rob Perrot. They prepared an ambush, 
 but the dogs of the Frenchmen found them out and 
 their plans were defeated. 
 
 The Miamis, almost always bitterly against the 
 Iroquois, once raised a band of three hundred war 
 riors and were ready for the warpath. Some French 
 men who were in the vicinity, considering only their 
 own immediate interests, made them believe that 
 Onontio wished them to hunt the beaver during the 
 winter in order to trade the furs for ammunition to 
 become better able to go against the common enemy 
 during the r coming spring; but the counsel did not 
 delay them, and they went and captured twelve 
 Iroquois and broke their heads. Finding themselves 
 pursued, they killed sixteen on another occasion. 
 
 The Sacs and their allies were wise enough to 
 prove their fidelity to Onontio. There were only 
 the Foxes and Mascoutins who violated their prom 
 ises; they were infuriated against the Sioux, notwith 
 standing an alliance of peace, and found themselves 
 in embarrassments from which they were finally only 
 able to extricate themselves by the mediation of the 
 French. They were never able to efface from their 
 hearts the passion for revenge that dominated them. 
 They moved in a body and provoked a combat with 
 the Sioux, taking over four hundred prisoners and 
 cutting to pieces all who resisted. They practiced 
 some unheard-of cruelties on their prisoners, seem 
 ingly to avenge the loss of fifteen warriors, in the 
 action, and burned two hundred women and chil 
 dren. Six Frenchmen went to liberate some of the 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 183 
 
 prisoners and, on the way, passed some of the lately 
 killed. The Miamis (the branch on the Mississippi 
 near the lead mines) were sensibly touched by the 
 depredations and, fearing that the Sioux would lay 
 violent hands on them, they being the neighbors of 
 the Foxes and Mascoutins, they engaged Perrot to 
 go to the Sioux and assure them that the Miamis 
 had taken no hand in the murders, and to say that 
 they would take their part. He went with a party 
 of Sioux who came from a reconnoiter against the 
 Mascoutins, and who said that they had found, 
 about twenty miles above, sixty of their people who 
 formed the advance guard, to see if their enemy was 
 likely to return the attack. He had no sooner 
 approached the Sioux than they bathed him with 
 their tears, making cries capable of touching the 
 hearts of the most insensible. After having wept a 
 half hour they raised him on a bearskin and carried 
 him to the top of a hill, upon which they camped. 
 He requested them to make his arrival known at the 
 French fort. 
 
 Several days after he departed with six Sioux. 
 He passed by the village, entirely ruined, where he 
 saw the sad remains of the fury of their enemies. 
 The lamentations of those who had escaped from 
 the cruelties were heard on all sides. 
 
 There chanced to be there at that time a French 
 man who called himself a great captain. In expo 
 sing some pieces of cloth for sale he made the people 
 believe that the fabrics would develop an evil spirit 
 that would cause the death of those who had 
 devoured their families. This trifling enabled him 
 to dispose of his merchandise. When the Sioux 
 
184 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 learned of the arrival of Perrot they conducted him 
 to his fort. He took a favorable opportunity to 
 present to them the pipe of peace on the part of the 
 Miamis, and said to them: 
 
 "Chiefs, I weep the death of your children; the 
 Foxes and Mascoutins, in deceiving me, have 
 ravished you. Heaven has witnessed their cruelty, 
 for which it will punish them. The blood of your 
 dead is yet too fresh to warrant you in undertaking 
 to avenge them; Heaven wishes that you weep to 
 appease it. It has declared against you and will 
 not assist if you put yourself in march this summer. 
 I have learned that you have assembled to search 
 your enemies; they are entrenched in a good fort; 
 the Foxes have the greater part of the prisoners 
 taken from you and will undoubtedly massacre them 
 if your warriors appear. I cover your dead* by 
 casting to them two kettles; but do not bury the 
 kettles with them. I will shelter your dead from 
 the storms until Onontio shall have learned of your 
 loss; he will determine what he can do for you. I 
 shall go to him and do my best to learn from him 
 what he can do to restore your children. He can 
 only be influenced by compassion. The Miamis, 
 who are his children, have obeyed him when, 
 through me, he has bidden them to cease making 
 war against you; they have learned of your affliction 
 and lament your disaster. Behold the pipe of 
 peace, which they send you with the word that they 
 disapprove of the course taken by the Foxes and 
 Mascoutins, and pray you to remember the alliance 
 
 * By this idiom is meant, I soothe your feelings for the loss 
 of your dead by casting to their spirits, etc. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 185 
 
 existing between them and you; if you make up 
 parties to go to find the bones of your dead, do not 
 mistake and peril their families." 
 
 This speech was followed by very bitter lamenta 
 tions; there were heard only cries and dirges. They 
 took brands from the fire with which they burned 
 their bodies, without wincing, saying several times 
 this word of despair: "Kabato! Kabato!" 
 
 Perrot, having yielded the time they gave to these 
 natural impulses, gave them presents of several 
 lengths of tobacco and said: "Smoke, chiefs! 
 Smoke, warriors! Smoke peaceably in the hope 
 that will return to you some of your wives and chil 
 dren; that I will take them from the jaws of your 
 enemies. Place again all your confidence in 
 Onontio [Governor Frontenac], who is master of 
 the land, from whom you will receive satisfaction." 
 
 Perrot, pausing, cast to them some packages of 
 knives and continued: "These knives are to dress 
 the beavers and not to scalp men ; use them until you 
 have news from Onontio." 
 
 The Frenchmen who had stopped them to trade 
 in furs, were compelled to come to the fort to dis 
 pose of their merchandise. The one they had 
 regarded as a great captain having arrived, they 
 sought him and said that since the cloths he had 
 sold them had caused the deaths of the Foxes and 
 Mascoutins, they wished to sing to him and Perrot 
 some of the dirges of the calumet, to lead them to 
 aid in their undertakings. "We have resolved," 
 said they, "not to leave our dead until we have 
 taken a village, the people of which we wish to sac 
 rifice to the shades of our dead. We recognize the 
 
1 86 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 Miamis as our brothers, and we are going to send 
 deputies to make peace with them. We have little 
 against the Foxes for taking away our women, for 
 they have spared their lives; they have not followed 
 them when they have escaped. Ten have returned 
 who have said that the Foxes are kindhearted and 
 that the latter censured the Mascoutins for having 
 eaten all of their captives."* It was reported that 
 for one Mascoutin who had been killed in the 
 encounter they had burned and put to death twenty 
 of the Sioux women and children, and that they 
 lived only on the flesh of the prisoners, in the retreat. 
 The trader said that he was ready to receive the 
 pipe if Perrot would do so. The Sioux assembled 
 in the cabin of the war chief, where they performed 
 the ceremony of the pipe of war, in which they asked 
 the two Frenchmen to smoke. Putting the ashes of 
 the tobacco on the ground, they invoked the Great 
 Spirit, the sun, the stars, and all the lesser spirits. 
 Perrot refused the pipe, saying that as he was only a 
 child he could do nothing without the participation 
 of his father, Onontio; that he had come to lament 
 their dead and to bring the pipe of peace from the 
 Miamis who had not participated in the barbarities 
 of their enemies; that if they wished to give him a 
 pipe to reply to the Miamis, he would carry it to 
 them, but that he was not in position to declare 
 against the Mascoutins, who would distrust him for 
 that reason; that they would not fail to learn that 
 one had sung to him the dirge; that he had great 
 
 * To "eat the captives" did not always mean to use them as 
 food, but it was often a general term signifying to make way 
 with them. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 187 
 
 reason to complain of their ingratitude because he 
 had run great risks of being himself burned among 
 them, but that it would be necessary to lay all such 
 matters before Onontio. The Sioux admitted that 
 he was right and were made to believe that they had 
 sufficient reason to hang up the tomahawk until 
 Onontio should know all that had passed. 
 
 The Foxes much wished that the Frenchmen 
 would bring some of the Sioux to treat for peace, as 
 they were much embarrassed by their prisoners; 
 they were not ignorant of the fact that their conduct 
 was an invasion of the rights of those people. The 
 Sioux judged it not judicious to expose their depu 
 ties alone, and so departed, thirty in number, to go 
 to the Miami village that was located on the west 
 bank of the Mississippi river, opposite the lead 
 mine. The Miamis were informed of the coming of 
 the [deputies, and forty went to meet them. The 
 interview between these people passed with offers of 
 services on the part of one and of lamentations on 
 the part of the other. The Sioux shed many tears, 
 as was their custom on such occasions, on the^heads 
 of the Miamis. The ^Miamis presented the Sioux 
 with one of the girls and a little boy that they had 
 taken from the Mascoutins, and covered the dead 
 Sioux by giving eight kettles, assuring the Sioux of 
 their friendship and asking the chiefs to smoke, 
 promising to bring back as many of their women and 
 children as they could. 
 
 The Miamis and Sioux had (unknown to the 
 Frenchmen) some secret meetings during one night, 
 when the Miamis vowed the entire destruction of the 
 Mascoutins. 
 
1 88 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 The Miamis last referred to were informed that 
 Onontio wished to communicate with them and they 
 came, to the number of twenty-five. They were 
 told that they were useless where they were to aid in 
 sustaining Onontio in the war against the Iroquois; 
 that they would not be given munitions of war if 
 they did not also turn their tomahawks against the 
 common enemy; that they ought to assure them 
 selves that the Sioux would not fall upon them when 
 they should go to take vengeance for their dead 
 against the Mascoutins. They promised to "place 
 their fires at Maramek." They would have gone to 
 the river St. Joseph, where was a large branch of the 
 Miami tribe, at the solicitation of the chief there, 
 but for the refusal of powder and balls, which gave 
 them the bad opinion they had of him. 
 
 The Mascoutins learned of the meeting of the 
 Sioux and Miamis, by the interposition of Perrot, 
 and they conjectured that Perrot s act was only the 
 result of the recollection of the insults they had 
 committed against him. They admitted his loss and 
 flattered themselves that, in taking his goods and 
 those of the Frenchmen who were with him, they 
 had means to enable them to withdraw more easily 
 to the Iroquois if they should fall under the fire of 
 the nations that had vowed vengeance against them. 
 They resolved to surprise Perrot one night, but 
 some dogs that had a great antipathy for the 
 savages who eat them, caused them to be discovered. 
 This obliged Perrot to put himself on the defensive. 
 The Mascoutins, who had failed, withdrew without 
 undertaking anything further. The fear they had 
 that the Frenchmen and Miamis would unite with 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 189 
 
 the Sioux against them, inclined them to send one 
 of their chiefs to Maramech to skillfully sound the 
 Miamis of that village, as previously stated. He 
 there chanced to meet Perrot, with whom he had a 
 conference. The savages were commonly politic 
 and compliant in their conduct. He said, "Thou 
 rememberest," at the same time smiling, "what I 
 have done to thee; thou seekest to avenge thyself." 
 The controversy continued for some time, but Perrot 
 contented himself with reproaching the Mascoutins 
 for all their unfaithfulnesses, both in regard to the 
 French and the Sioux. 
 
 Some young Mascoutin warriors arrived at the 
 cabin while this was taking place, who reported 
 that the chief was wanted at the village, as his 
 people had discovered the army of the Sioux at the 
 lead mine. 
 
 The messengers had no trouble to make them 
 selves heard, and the chief of the village ran about 
 calling the scattered people to proceed quickly to 
 build a fort. 
 
 When this took place (1694) Na-nan-gous-sis-ta 
 and Mac-i-ton-ga were the chiefs of Maramech, one 
 of them, no doubt, the war-chief, and it was he who 
 commanded the people of Maramech to hasten to 
 protect themselves. It seems probable that the 
 denizens of the scattered village hastened to the 
 hill, found by me to be historic, and there began 
 the fort that, thirty years afterward, when finished 
 by the Foxes, made a temporary shelter. We shall 
 never know to what extent history was made on 
 Maramech hill. It is probable that at the eastern 
 side, where the ditch is deepest, the Miamis began 
 
190 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 the work. Fragments of three events only are 
 known. Perrot was chosen to command at Mara- 
 mech in 1692, and it seems possible that the fort had 
 already been commenced at the time his responsi 
 bilities at the village began. 
 
 Soon after the fears of the approach of the Sioux 
 had subsided the Frenchmen departed for Green 
 Bay and were escorted by many people of the village. 
 Before debarking at The Bay the Frenchmen em 
 ployed themselves in successful attempts to influ 
 ence the Foxes to deliver the Sioux prisoners. The 
 Foxes were presented two Iroquois by the Miamis 
 of Chicagou; policy prevented them from applying 
 the torch because they hoped that in case the Sioux 
 attacked their village they could throw themselves 
 with their families upon the Iroquois, who had long 
 wished them to join in a war against the French. 
 The Foxes had long known that all the neighboring 
 nations wished their entire destruction. The Sau- 
 teurs had been pillaged, the French brutalized, and 
 all the allies insulted. The Foxes sent a chief with 
 the two prisoners, whom they freed, to ask that the 
 Iroquois meet them on the river St. Joseph; they 
 wished the Mascoutins to join them, in which case 
 they would have been able to raise a body of nine 
 hundred warriors to march against the Miamis and 
 Illinois. A son of the Fox chief, however, was 
 friendly to the French, and insisted upon going 
 with the many delegates from the western tribes to 
 Montreal to confer with the Governor of New 
 France. The return of the son of the Fox chief 
 from Montreal made a great impression upon the 
 tribes, however, very favorable to the French. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 191 
 
 The Foxes seem sometimes to have been driven 
 to drastic measures and arguments most convincing. 
 At one time, while a party of French traders were 
 in the Sioux country, some Foxes brought some 
 hatchets to The Bay for repair. They forced a 
 Jesuit brother to put them in order. The chief held 
 a naked saber ready to kill him should he object. 
 The brother, remonstrating against the act, was 
 injured to such an extent that he was laid up for a 
 time. With weapons thus in order the chief formed 
 an ambuscade and awaited the return of the French 
 who had gone to the Sioux. "It is true that all of 
 the people of The Bay have reason to complain that 
 one carries all sorts of munitions of war to their 
 enemies." (La Potherie, II., 245.) 
 
 The French considered the Foxes mere footpads 
 when, as a matter of fact, they were only exacting 
 toll for the right to pass through their lands and 
 across the portage. This tribe early became the 
 Ishmaelites of the west. They interrupted the 
 western tribes that brought furs to Green Bay, and 
 the legitimate traders, as well as the clandestine 
 ones, the coureurs du bois. Complaints were early 
 made of the Foxes by the traders when passing 
 through their country and, as the mild remedies 
 applied by the French for many years had failed to 
 cure the evil, arms were soon resorted to. The 
 trade with the Sioux was profitable to the French, 
 but the great highway was watched by the Foxes 
 and Mascoutins, neighbors as well as sometimes 
 brothers in iniquity, as the French rightly believed. 
 They plundered the French under the pretense that 
 the latter were carrying ammunition to the Sioux, 
 
LOST MARAMECH 
 
 then, as often before, their enemies That the 
 French carried ammunition to the Sioux is made 
 evident by the very fact that the Sioux got ammu 
 nition, for they could not have procured it in any 
 other way. The Spanish could not have approached 
 within a thousand miles of ^their hunting-grounds, 
 and the English were effectually shut out. As early 
 as these troubles, more than one of the western 
 tribes believed it desirable to leave the country and 
 unite with the Iroquois, on account of the fact that 
 the Sioux had become armed to such an extent that 
 they constituted a greater terror than the Iroquois 
 had ever been, even to the Hurons. The remnants 
 of the Hurons were long in league with the Iro 
 quois, only as a matter of policy, and it became a 
 question, even with the Ottawas, what had best be 
 done. The Foxes and Mascoutins, mustering 
 twelve hundred warriors at that time, had never 
 made a general war upon the French; but as they 
 received no aid from the latter, they were contem 
 plating joining the Iroquois and settling near them 
 as a matter of protection from the Sioux, who had 
 made war upon them.* The opinion then held by 
 the French is found in Chain of Posts, p. 121: "The 
 Foxes are so called because theirs is a nation deceit 
 ful and malicious. They are situated on a very 
 beautiful river and in a very good country for all 
 purposes. This nation is powerful, and this is why 
 it has become so insolent. I think that if we had 
 not had the war with the Iroquois on hand, we would 
 have taken measures to humiliate them; they have 
 already insulted and pillaged the French several 
 * Despatches from Canada, N. Y. C. Doc., IX, 633. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 193 
 
 times, and otherwise treated them indignantly. 
 They do not make war upon the Iroquois, but on 
 the contrary, there is some alliance between them. 
 It is due to the policy of this enemy of all nations 
 of the New World that they have been able to hold 
 in neutrality one nation, amidst all the others, that 
 would have been able to disturb it much, if it had 
 declared war. When affairs go badly, the Foxes 
 interfere by undertaking negotiations, and often suc 
 ceed so well that the Iroquois take breath in the 
 interval, because there is no nation that estimates 
 itself happy that does not pride itself on being 
 sought by an enemy that makes all tremble so that 
 one does not refuse the peace when demanded. The 
 Foxes are slovenly and great thieves, and one must 
 watch their feet as well as their hands, for they are 
 very adroit with them. They are at war with the 
 Sioux, the Saulteux [a branch of the Ojibwas], and 
 make telling strokes on their enemies." 
 
 "Chicagou" (Chicago) had become an important 
 trading post at the time Cadillac was given com 
 mand at Detroit. He tells us that the word signifies 
 "river of the onion," because those vegetables grow 
 without care in great quantities. (Chain of Posts, 
 123.) It is readily believed by the dwellers in the 
 now great city that such was the origin, for wher 
 ever the native sod of the suburbs is found, adjacent 
 to the stream of that name, the wild onion is still 
 exceedingly abundant. Along the river was a 
 Miami village. Its people were bold, good war 
 riors, and extremely alert. Cadillac tells us that 
 they were true bloodhounds, and that they were 
 feared by the Iroquois. The nation was numerous, 
 
194 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 but divided into several villages because of jealousy 
 of the leading men who could not agree and, as they 
 were haughty and warlike, they were inclined to 
 make war against each other. Because of this divi 
 sion, their enemies destroyed them often; by being 
 disunited they risked destruction. Where the 
 branches of this tribe were, Cadillac does not say, 
 but we know that some were near the great Illinois 
 village and others were at "Malamek [Maramech], 
 (Chain of Posts, p. 72.) It was with these people, 
 the Foxes, the Hurons, and others that the Iro- 
 quois, in 1694, demanded, through the French, a 
 treaty of peace. (Chain of Posts, P. LIII.) 
 
 Perrot succeeded in taking representatives of the 
 various western tribes to hold council with the Gov 
 ernor of New France, where the chief of the Foxes 
 had but few words to offer. "What shall I say to 
 my father? I have come all naked [in poverty] 
 to see him. I can give him no assurance. The 
 Sioux tied my arms and I killed him because he 
 began. Father, be not angry with me" for so doing. 
 I am come here only to hear you and execute your 
 will." In reply to this the Governor said: "Fox, I 
 now speak to you; your young men have no sense; 
 you have a bad t heart, but mine was beginning to 
 be worse disposed than yours, had you not come to 
 hear my word and do my will. I was resolved to 
 send Mr. de Lamotte with a party of my young men 
 on a visit to your village. That would have been 
 unfortunate, for no doubt your women and children 
 would have been frightened by them. I hope you 
 have sense now, and that you will smoke in peace 
 out of the same calumet as the French who are 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 195 
 
 about to go and see you." (N. Y. Col. Doc., IX., 
 679.) 
 
 The Governor, to conciliate the Foxes, after the 
 distribution of presents among them, said: "No 
 more powder and iron [guns] will be conveyed to the 
 Sioux, and if my young men carry any thither, I 
 will chastise them severely." In 1701 peace was 
 again made between the Foxes and all other nations, 
 including the Miamis. The pipe of peace was 
 smoked, and the deputies from the various tribes 
 partook of the feasts prepared by the French. The 
 Miamis presented the pipe of peace, and the Gov 
 ernor then said that it should serve thereafter, that 
 all who came there willing to maintain peace might 
 smoke it. After the speech of the Governor a rep 
 resentative of each nation spoke in reply. Chichi- 
 catato, one of the chiefs of the Miamis, said: 
 "Father, I have obeyed you by bringing you back 
 eight Iroquois prisoners, to do with as you please; 
 had I canoes I would have brought more, although 
 I do not see here any of my people in the hands of 
 the Iroquois present. I will bring you those that 
 remain, if you wish it, or I shall open the door to 
 them that they may return." Miskeounas, chief of 
 the Foxes, said: "I have no prisoners to surrender 
 to you, father, but I thank you for the clear sky 
 [the new peace] you give the whole world. For 
 myself I will never lose this light." 
 
 We shall soon see how well this declaration of 
 peace with the Foxes was kept by the French. The 
 peace established among these tribes, by the influ 
 ence of the Governor, was none too soon. The 
 Piankeshaws, a branch of the Miamis, having been 
 
ig6 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 defeated by the Sioux and the lowas, had united 
 with the Kickapoos, Mascoutins, Foxes, and others, 
 a year or two previous, with the intention of aven 
 ging the injuries committed by the Sioux. Follow 
 ing this, some or all of the Foxes united with the 
 Sacs, Pottawatomies, and others, and, passing up the 
 Mississippi river, encountered five Canadians, whom 
 they wounded, robbed, and left destitute with the 
 exception of a poor gun and five or six charges of 
 powder. The Canadians were on their way to trade 
 with the tribes at the mouth of the Illinois river. If 
 there was any pillaging of the French, or interfer 
 ence of trade, on any of the routes leading from 
 Canada to Louisiana, the Foxes usually took a 
 hand. Their depredations became worse after 
 about the year 1700. Le Sueur, who established a 
 trading post among the Sioux and was getting his 
 supplies by the way of the Great Lakes, received 
 attentions from the Foxes and others along the 
 Fox river of Wisconsin. About 1703 a merchant of 
 Montreal despatched an expedition to the country 
 of the Sioux to join Le Sueur. The value of the 
 supplies was very great, and it was pillaged by the 
 Foxes. 
 
 Heading near the Wisconsin river, and wandering 
 through a rich level country, is the Fox river. The 
 lips of tradition are silent as to the people who had 
 already left tumuli along the bank when Europeans 
 first visited the region. The great area of small 
 lakes and ponds invited waterfowl and fur-bearing 
 animals, and the rich grasses of the broad prairies 
 made the region the home of the deer and buffalo. 
 Man had long before been there; a superior race, or 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 197 
 
 a superior branch of some of the western tribes, had 
 raised a mound on the north bank of the river, near 
 Winnebago lake, known as "Great Butte des Morts" 
 (hill of the dead). Tradition s echo tells that it was 
 a burial-place, as in fact the presence of human 
 bones shows. One tradition informs us that "the 
 earth has not only covered the bodies of warriors 
 slain in battle, but it has been raised up as a record 
 of events disastrous to the Fox tribe of Indians, 
 whose principal village, at an early period, was 
 near this place on the Fox river. This mound is 
 nevertheless to be considered as a modern structure, 
 because the time of its erection, or at least the event 
 which it commemorates, can be referred to, if not 
 in correct history, at least as traditionary accounts. 
 Here, it is said, the Foxes had their stronghold, and 
 from this point not only were depredatory excur 
 sions made against the neighboring tribes, but the 
 early French traders were compelled to submit to 
 exactions from these Indians on their voyages along 
 the Fox river. 
 
 "It thus became necessary for the French to 
 inflict such a punishment on the Fox tribe as should 
 be the means of deterring them, in the future, from 
 their depredations on the traders. Accordingly, in 
 1703, an expedition under Captain Morand was sent 
 from Mackinaw against them, and in the attack 
 upon them by surprise, at this, their stronghold, 
 more than one thousand of their warriors perished; 
 and the great hill of the dead was raised over 
 their bones by the survivors who, in a few years, 
 left this part of the country and removed farther to 
 the west. Other accounts differ in regard to the 
 
198 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 time when the great battle was fought, which nearly 
 destroyed the tribe and caused their removal; but all 
 agree that the mound raised received its significant 
 name from such an event." (Smith s Hist. Wis., 
 Ill, 362.) 
 
 I have found nothing definite in regard to this 
 battle, and it is quite probable that the account may 
 be a mixture of early and later events, for we are 
 told of a similar battle that occurred in 1714. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 The siege of Detroit has been told by several 
 whose accounts vary but little. The only official 
 account at hand was that of Du Buisson, the French 
 commandant, sent to the Marquis de Vaudreuil, 
 which follows (Smith s Hist. Wis., III., 315): 
 
 "As I thought it was of great consequence to 
 inform you of the state of this post by express 
 canoe, I have requested M. de Vincennes to make 
 the voyage, having assured him that this arrange 
 ment would be pleasing to you, persuaded, as I am, 
 that you are very solicitous about what passes here. 
 The fatigue I undergo day and night in consequence 
 of the public and private councils that I hold with 
 the Indians preventing me from rendering you a 
 detailed account of all the circumstances. 
 
 "The destruction of the Mascoutin and Fox vil 
 lages is one of the principal reasons which induces 
 me to send this express canoe. [By Village is here 
 meant "branches of the tribes."] It is God who has 
 suffered these two audacious nations to perish. 
 They have received many presents and some belts 
 [treaty belts of wampum] from the English, to 
 destroy the post of Fort Pontchartrain [Detroit], 
 and then to cut our throats and those of our allies, 
 particularly the Hurons and Ottawas, residing upon 
 the Detroit river, and after that these wretches 
 intended to settle among the English and devote 
 themselves to their services. . . ." 
 
 199 
 
200 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 Certain of the tribes had gone to the Iroquois and 
 established a village, and it was thought by the com 
 mandant that the Foxes would be likely to do the 
 same; in fact, as we shall see, a branch of the Foxes 
 attempted to carry this out eighteen years later. 
 Three canoes of Foxes that had been defeated by 
 the Chippewas, some distance above Detroit, gave 
 this information to Du Buisson, he claims. The 
 account states that "the band of the Great Chief 
 Lamina and that of the Great Chief Pemoussa came 
 early in the spring and encamped, in spite of my 
 opposition, at about fifty paces from my fort, never 
 willing to listen to me, speaking always with much 
 insolence and calling themselves the owners of all 
 this country. It was necessary for me to be very 
 mild, having as you know, sir, but thirty Frenchmen 
 with me, and wishing to restrain eight Miamis who 
 were with De Vincennes, and also to sow our grain 
 and pasture our cattle; and, besides, the Ottawas 
 and Hurons had not come in from their winter hunt. 
 I was thus exposed every day to a thousand insults. 
 The fowls, pigeons, and other animals belonging to 
 the French were killed without their daring to say a 
 word, and, for myself, I was in no condition to 
 openly declare my intentions. One of their parties 
 entered my fort in order to kill one of the inhabit 
 ants named Lagmenesse and a daughter of Roy, 
 another inhabitant. I could then no longer restrain 
 myself, but took arms to prevent their accomplish 
 ing their object. I compelled them to retire imme 
 diately from the vicinity of the fort in order to not 
 give them time to strengthen their party, as they 
 expected the Kickapoos, their allies, that they 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 201 
 
 might together execute their nefarious project; ho 
 ping to be strong enough to retire without loss among 
 the English and Iroquois, they wanted but a favor 
 able moment to set fire to the fort. 
 
 "But they were alarmed when they learned that 
 the party of Mascoutins, who had wintered upon 
 the head of the St. Joseph, had been cut off to the 
 number of a hundred and fifty men, women, and 
 children, by Saguina, a war-chief of the Ottawas, 
 and Pottawatomies. They immediately determined 
 to set fire to an Ottawa cabin, which was close by 
 the gate of my fort. I was informed of their inten 
 tion by an Outagamie [Fox] Indian named Joseph, 
 who long since left his people and came to reside 
 among us. It was from him I learned all that 
 passed in the Outagamie and Mascoutin village. 
 He had the honor to be presented to you, sir, last 
 year, at Montreal. He informed me of the inten 
 tion to set fire to my fort, and I immediately sent 
 an express canoe to the hunting-grounds of the 
 Ottawas and Hurons, to request them to join me as 
 soon as possible. I sent also another canoe to the 
 other side of the lake to invite the Chippeways and 
 Mississaugas to join us. 
 
 "The church and the house of Mr. Mullet were 
 outside of the fort, and all our wheat was stored 
 there. The contrary winds prevented our allies 
 from arriving, which troubled me much. As the 
 circumstances were now pressing, I prevailed on the 
 few Frenchmen who were with me immediately to 
 bring the wheat into the fort. And it was well I 
 did so, for two days later it would have been pil 
 laged. We had to fire upon the enemy to secure it, 
 
202 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 and as it was, they stole a considerable portion of it. 
 But the principal object was to pull down, as quickly 
 as possible, the church, the storehouse, and some 
 other houses which were near my fort, and so close 
 that the Indians, at any time, by setting fire to 
 them, might have burnt our works. And, besides, 
 it was important, in order to defend ourselves in 
 case of an attack, which very soon took place. It 
 became us to render thanks to the Lord for His 
 mercies. We should have been lost if I had not 
 formed this determination. I put on the best coun 
 tenance I could, encouraging the French who were 
 in consternation, believing themselves lost. The 
 apprehension I entertained that some accident 
 might happen to the French who had not yet arrived, 
 and the necessity of sowing our grain and pasturing 
 our cattle, prevented me from refusing them [the 
 hostile Indians] permission to enter the fort to 
 trade, for fear they should suspect I was aware of 
 their object. The only thing I could do was to tell 
 them that I apprehended the Miamis would attack 
 me because I permitted them to remain so near, and 
 therefore I was about to repair my fort. They did 
 not appear to give much credit. to my assertions. 
 Our men were obliged to draw some posts, of which 
 the Indians had taken possession, in order to repair 
 the fort as soon as possible, and I succeeded per 
 fectly well in effecting the repairs with material 
 taken from some of the houses. They wished to 
 preserve a pigeon-house, from which they might 
 have assailed us, but I deceived them and took 
 possession of it. I placed it immediately oppo 
 site their fort, and pierced it with loopholes. I 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 203 
 
 mounted two swivels upon logs of wood, to serve 
 as cannon in case of necessity. 
 
 "The thirteenth day of May, while I was impa 
 tiently awaiting the arrival of my allies, who were 
 the only aid I could expect, Mr. de Vincennes 
 arrived from the Miami country with seven or eight 
 Frenchmen. He brought me no news of the 
 Indians, which gave me much trouble, and I did not 
 know on jvvhat saint to call. But heaven watched 
 over our preservation, and when I least expected it, 
 there came a Huron, all breathless, who said to me: 
 My father, I wish to speak to you in secret. I am 
 sent to you by our peace chiefs. There were then 
 in their villages but seven or eight men. It seems 
 that our deliverance was miraculous, for all others 
 arrived two hours after, and the Ottawas also. The 
 messenger said, God has pity on you; He has 
 decreed that your enemies and ours should perish. I 
 bring you information that four men have just 
 arrived at our fort, not daring to enter yours on 
 account of the Outagamies and Mascoutins who sur 
 round you. Makisabie, war-chief of the Pottawato- 
 mies, and his brother, Tehamasimon, are at their 
 head and desire to counsel with you. 
 
 "I requested Mr. de Vincennes to meet them, 
 and he recognized at once the four Indians. He 
 returned an hour after, to render me an account of 
 the interview and told me, on the part of Makisabie, 
 that six hundred men would soon arrive to aid me, 
 and to eat those miserable nations who had troubled 
 all the country; that it was necessary to keep myself 
 on my guard against the Outagamies and Mascoutins, 
 who might learn of the expected arrival of assistance. 
 
204 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 "I requested Mr. de Vincennes to return to the 
 Huron fort and ascertain from Makisabie if it would 
 not be satisfactory to his people to content them 
 selves with driving away the Mascoutins and the 
 Outagamies and compel them to return to their 
 former villages, which, sir, was your intention. 
 But this could not be done, for the Hurons were too 
 much irritated. This great affair had been too well 
 concerted during the whole autumn and winter, 
 with all the nations. Mr. de Vincennes, perceiv 
 ing it would only irritate the Hurons to speak of 
 accommodation, dropped the subject and the more 
 readily as they said these wicked men never kept 
 their word. Nothing else was done but to be silent 
 and put the best face on the affair, while we fought 
 with them against our enemies. The Hurons even 
 reproached us with being tired of living, as we knew 
 the bad intentions of the Outagamies and Mascou 
 tins. They said it was absolutely necessary to 
 destroy them and to extinguish their fire, and it 
 was your intention they should perish. They added 
 that they knew your views on this subject at Mon 
 treal. 
 
 "Mr. de Vincennes returned and told me it was 
 useless to speak of any accommodation. And in truth 
 I well knew there was great danger in having so 
 many nations around us of whose good intentions 
 we were not certain. I then closed the gates of the 
 fort and divided my Frenchmen into four brigades, 
 each having its brigadier. I inspected their arms 
 and ammunition and assigned them their stations 
 on the bastions. I put four of them into the 
 redoubt I had just constructed. I placed some of 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 205 
 
 them at the two curtains which were most exposed, 
 and armed them with spears. My two cannon were 
 all ready, with slugs of iron prepared to load them 
 with, which had been made by the blacksmith. Our 
 reverend father held himself ready to give general 
 absolution in case of necessity, and to assist the 
 wounded if there should be any. He communicated 
 also the Sacred Host. 
 
 "Every arrangement being made, and while we 
 were waiting with impatience, I was informed that 
 there were many people in sight. I immediately 
 ascended a bastion, and casting my eyes toward the 
 woods I saw the army of the nations of the south issu 
 ing from it. They were the Illinois, the Missouris, 
 the Osages, and other nations yet more remote. 
 There were also with them the Ottawa chief Saguina, 
 and also the Pottawatomies, the Sacs, and some 
 Menomenies. Detroit never saw such a collection 
 of people. It is surprising how much all these 
 nations are irritated against the Mascoutins and the 
 Outagamies. This army marched in good order, 
 with as many flags" as there were different nations, 
 and it proceeded directly to the fort of the Hurons. 
 These Indians ^said to the head chief of [the army, 
 You must not encamp. Affairs are too pressing. 
 We must enter immediately into our father s fort 
 and fight for him. As he has always had pity on]us, 
 and as he loves us, we ought to die for him. And 
 don t you see that smoke also? They are the women 
 of your village, Saguina, who are burning there, and 
 your wife is among them. Not another word was 
 necessary. There arose a great cry, and at the 
 same time they all began to run, having the Hurons 
 
206 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 and the Ottawas at their head. The Outagamies 
 and the Mascoutins raised also their war cry, and 
 about forty of them issued from their fort, all naked 
 and well armed, running to meet our Indians and to 
 brave them, in order to make them believe they 
 were not afraid. They were obliged, however, to 
 retreat immediately, and to return to their village. 
 Our Indians requested permission to enter my fort, 
 which I granted, seeing they were much excited. 
 It was my design they should encamp near the 
 woods, that they might not be troublesome to us. 
 All the Indian chiefs assembled upon the parade 
 ground of my fort and spoke to me as follows: My 
 father, I speak to you on the part of all the nations, 
 your children, who are before you. What you did 
 last year in drawing their flesh from the fire, which 
 the Outagamies were about to roast and eat, well 
 merits that we should bring you our bodies. So 
 make you the master of them, they to do all you 
 wish. We do not fear death, whenever it is neces 
 sary to die for you. We have only to request that 
 you pray the father of all nations to have pity 
 on our women and our children in case we lose our 
 lives with you. We beg you to throw a blade of 
 grass upon our bones to protect them from the flies. 
 You see, my father, that we have abandoned our vil 
 lages, our women, and our children, to hasten as 
 soon as possible to join you. We hope that you 
 will have pity on us and that you will give us some 
 thing to eat and a little tobacco to smoke. We 
 have come from a distance and are destitute of 
 everything; we hope you will give us powder and 
 balls to fight with you. We don t make a great 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 207 
 
 speech. We perceive that we fatigue you and your 
 people by the ardor which you ^show for the fight. 
 
 "I immediately answered them, and briefly: I 
 thank you, my children; the determination that you 
 have taken to offer to die with us is very agreeable 
 to me and causes me much pleasure. I recognize 
 you as the true children of the Governor-General, 
 and I shall not fail to render him account of all that 
 you have done for me to-day. You need not doubt 
 that when any question respecting your interest 
 arises, he will regard it favorably. I receive orders 
 from him every day to watch continually for the 
 preservation of his children. With regard to your 
 necessities, I know you want everything. The fire 
 which has just taken place is unlucky for you as 
 well as for me. I will do all I can to provide you 
 with what you want. I beg you to live in peace, 
 union, and good intelligence together, as well 
 among your different nations as with the French 
 people. This will be the best means of enabling us 
 to defeat our common enemies. Take courage, 
 then; inspect and repair your war clubs, your bows 
 and arrows, and especially your guns. I shall sup 
 ply you with powder and balls immediately, and 
 then will attack our enemies. This is all I have to 
 say to you. 
 
 "All the Indians uttered a cry of joy and of 
 thanks and said: Our enemies are dead from the 
 present moment. The heavens begin to grow clear, 
 and the Master of Life has pity on us. 
 
 "All the old men made harangues through the 
 fort to encourage the warriors, telling them to listen 
 to my words and strictly obey all my orders. I dis- 
 
208 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 tributed among them immediately a quantity of 
 balls and powder, and then we all raised the war 
 cry. The very earth trembled. The enemy, who 
 were not more than a pistol-shot distant, raised also 
 their war cry at the same time. The guns were 
 immediately discharged on both sides, and the 
 balls flew like hail. 
 
 "We had to do as our Indians did in order to 
 encourage them. The powder and balls that you 
 had the goodness to send us, sir, the past autumn, 
 did not last long. I was obliged to have recourse 
 to three barrels that Mr. de Lamothe left with a cer 
 tain Roy to sell, not leaving me a single grain when 
 he went away for the defense of the fort in case of 
 an attack. All mine was exhausted, as well as a 
 quantity which I had been obliged to purchase of 
 some of the French people. 
 
 "I held the Outagamies and the Mascoutins in a 
 state of siege during nineteen days, wearing them 
 out by a continual fire night and day. In order to 
 avoid our fires they were obliged to dig holes four 
 or five feet deep in the ground to shelter them 
 selves. I had erected two high scaffolds, twenty 
 feet high, the better to fire into their village. They 
 could not go out for water, and they were exhausted 
 by hunger and thirst. I had from four to five hun 
 dred ^men, who blockaded their village night and 
 day, so that no one could issue to seek assistance. 
 All our Indians went and hid themselves at the edge 
 of the woods, whence they continually returned with 
 prisoners, who came to join their people, not know 
 ing they were besieged. Their sport was to shoot 
 them or to fire arrows at them and then burn them. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 209 
 
 "The enemy that I had kept besieged, thinking 
 to intimidate me and by this means to have the 
 field left open to them, covered their palisades with 
 scarlet blankets and then hallooed to me that they 
 wished the earth was all colored with blood; these 
 red blankets were the mark of it. They hoisted 
 twelve red blankets as standards in twelve different 
 places of their village. I well knew that these sig 
 nals were English and that they fought for the Eng 
 lish. This, indeed, they told us, for we could speak 
 from one fort to the other. They said they had no 
 father but the English, and told all the nations, our 
 allies, that they would do much better to quit our 
 side and join theirs. 
 
 "The great war chief of the Pottawatomies, after 
 having requested my advice and permission, 
 mounted one of my scaffolds and spoke to our ene 
 mies in the name of all our nations in these words: 
 Wicked nations that you are, you hope to frighten 
 us by all that red color which you exhibit in your 
 village. Learn that if the earth is covered with 
 blood, it will be yours. You speak to us of the 
 English; they are the cause of your destruction, 
 because you have listened to their bad counsel. 
 They are enemies of prayer, and it is for that reason 
 that the Master of Life chastises them as well as 
 you, wicked men that you are; don t you know as 
 well as we do, that the father of all the nations, 
 who is at Montreal, sends continually parties of his 
 young men against the English to make war, and 
 who took so many prisoners that they do not know 
 what to do with them? The English, who are 
 cowards, only defend themselves by secretly killing 
 
210 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 men by that wicked strong drink, which has caused 
 so many men to die immediately after drinking it. 
 Thus we shall see what will happen to you for hav 
 ing listened to them. 
 
 "I was obliged to stop this conversation, perceiv 
 ing that the enemy had requested to speak merely 
 to attract our attention while they went for water. 
 I ordered our great fire to recommence, which was 
 so violent that we killed more than twenty men and 
 some women who had secretly gone out for water. 
 I lost that day twelve men who were killed in my 
 fort. The enemy, in spite of my opposition, had 
 taken possession of a house, where they had erected 
 a scaffold behind the gable end, which was of earth. 
 Our balls could not penetrate this defense, and thus 
 every day many of our people were killed. This 
 obliged me to raise one of my scaffolds, the two 
 large logs upon which were mounted our swivels. 
 I loaded them with slugs and caused them to be fired 
 upon the scaffold which troubled me so much. They 
 were so well aimed that at the first two discharges 
 we heard the scaffolds fall, and some of the enemy 
 were killed. They were so frightened that we heard 
 them utter cries and frightful groans, and toward 
 evening they called out to know if I would allow 
 them to come and speak to me. I assembled imme 
 diately the chiefs of all the nations who were with 
 me to ascertain their opinion, and we agreed it was 
 best to listen to them in order, by some strategy, to 
 withdraw from them three of our women whom they 
 had made prisoners some days before the siege, and 
 one of whom was the wife of the great war chief 
 Saguina. I told them, through my interpreter, that 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 211 
 
 they might come in safety to speak to me, as I was 
 willing they should have that satisfaction before 
 dying. 
 
 "They did not fail, the next morning, to make 
 me a visit. We were very much surprised not to 
 see the red flag in their village, but only a white 
 flag. It was the great chief Pemoussa who was at 
 the head of this first embassy. He came out of his 
 village with two other Indians, carrying a white 
 flag in his hand. I sent my interpreter to meet 
 him and conduct him to me, and to protect him 
 from the insults of some of the young warriors. He 
 entered my fort; I placed him in the midst of the 
 parade-ground, and then I assembled all the chiefs 
 of the nations who were with me to hear our ambas 
 sador, who spoke in these words (presenting a belt 
 of wampum and two slaves). My father, I am dead; 
 I see very well that the heaven is clear and beauti 
 ful for you only, and that for me it is altogether 
 dark. When I left my village I hoped that you 
 would willingly listen to me. I demand of you, my 
 father, by this belt, which I lay at your feet, that 
 you have pity on your children and that you do not 
 refuse them the two days that they ask you in which 
 there shall be no firing on either side, that our old 
 men may hold council to find the means of turning 
 away your wrath. 
 
 It is to you that I now speak, you other chil 
 dren, listening to the advice of our father; this belt 
 is to pray you to recollect that you are our kindred. 
 If you shed our blood, recollect that it is your own; 
 endeavor, then, to soften the heart of our father, 
 whom we have so often offended. 
 
212 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 These two slaves are to replace a little blood 
 that you have lost. I do not speak many words 
 until our old men can counsel together, if you grant 
 us those two days that I have asked of you. 
 
 "I answered him thus: If your hearts were prop 
 erly moved and if you truly considered the Gov 
 ernor at Montreal as your father, you would have 
 begun by bringing with you the three women whom 
 you hold as prisoners; not having done so, I believe 
 your hearts are yet bad. If you expect me to listen 
 to you, begin by bringing them here. This is all I 
 have to say. 
 
 "All the chiefs who were with me exclaimed with 
 a high voice: My father, after what you have just 
 said, we have nothing to answer to this ambassador. 
 Let him obey you if he wishes to live. 
 
 "The ambassador answered: I am only a child. 
 I shall return to my village to render an account of 
 what you have said to our old men. 
 
 "Thus finished the council. I gave him three or 
 four Frenchmen to reconduct him, assuring him that 
 we would not fire upon his village during the day, 
 on condition, however, that no one should leave it to 
 seek water, and that if they did so the truce should 
 be at an end and we should fire upon them. 
 
 "Two hours after, three chiefs, two of the Mascou- 
 tins, and the third an Outagamie, came bearing a 
 flag and bringing with them the three women. I 
 made them enter into the same place where the 
 others were stationed and where all our chiefs were 
 again assembled. The three messengers spoke as 
 follows: My father, here are these three pieces of 
 flesh that you ask of us. We would not eat them, 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 213 
 
 thinking you would call us to an account for it. 
 Do what you please with them. You are the master. 
 Now, we Mascoutins and Outagamies request that 
 you cause all the nations who are with you to retire 
 in order that we may freely seek provisions for our 
 women and our children. Many die every day of 
 hunger. All our village regrets that we have dis 
 pleased you. If you are as good a father as all your 
 children who are around you say you are, you will 
 not refuse the favor we ask of you. 
 
 "As I had now the three women whom I sought, 
 1 did not care any longer to keep fair with them, 
 and I therefore answered: If you had eaten my 
 flesh which you have now brought to me, you would 
 not have been living at this moment. You would 
 have felt such terrible coils that they would have 
 covered you so deep in the ground that no one would 
 any longer speak of you, so true is it that I love the 
 father of all the nations. With regard to the 
 liberty that you demand, I leave it to my children to 
 answer you. Therefore, I shall not say any more. 
 
 "The head chief of the Illinois, whose name is 
 Makouandeby, was appointed by the chiefs of the 
 other nations to speak in these words: My father, 
 we all thank you for your kindness to us; we thank 
 you for it, and since you give us permission to speak 
 we shall do so. 
 
 "And then, addressing the hostile chiefs, he said: 
 Now, listen to me, ye nations who have troubled 
 all the earth. We perceive clearly, by your words, 
 that you seek only to surprise our father and to 
 deceive him again in demanding that we should 
 retire. We should no sooner do that than you 
 
2i 4 L ST MARAMECH 
 
 would again torment our father and you would 
 infallibly shed his blood. You are dogs who have 
 always bitten him. You have never been sensible 
 of the favors you have received from all the French. 
 You have thought, wretches that you are, that we 
 did not know all the speeches you have received 
 from the English, telling you to cut the throats of 
 our father and of his children and then to lead the 
 English into this country. Go away, then. For 
 us, we will not stir a step from you; we are deter 
 mined to die with our father; we should disobey 
 him; because we know your bad hearts and we would 
 not leave him alone with you. We shall see from 
 this moment who will be master, you or us; you 
 have now only to retire and as soon as you shall 
 reenter your fort we shall fire upon you. 
 
 "I sent an escort to conduct the ambassadors to 
 their fort, and we began to fire again as usual. We 
 were three or four days without any intercourse, 
 firing briskly on both sides. The enemy discharged 
 their arrows so rapidly that more than three or four 
 hundred were flying at the same time,* and at their 
 ends were lighted fuses; the object being to burn us, 
 as they had threatened to do. I found myself very 
 much embarrassed; the arrows fell upon all our 
 quarters, which were covered with straw, so that 
 the fire easily caught many of them, which fright 
 ened the French so much that they thought every 
 thing was lost. I reassured them, telling them 
 that this was nothing and that we must find a remedy 
 
 * This statement shows that Du Buisson was something of a 
 romancer, and it may well caution us to take many of the 
 other statements as possible exaggerations. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 215 
 
 as soon as possible. Come, then, said I, take 
 courage; let us take off the thatch from the houses 
 and let us cover them with bearskins and deer 
 skins; our Indians will help us. I then directed 
 them to bring in two large wooden pirogues, which 
 I filled with water and provided badrouilles at the 
 ends of rods to [extinguish the fire when it should 
 break out anywhere, and hooks to pull out the 
 arrows. There were four or five Frenchmen who 
 were wounded. I fell into another embarrassment 
 much greater than this; my Indians became dis 
 couraged and wished to go away, a part of them 
 saying that we should never conquer those nations; 
 that they knew them well, and that they were braver 
 than any other people; and besides, I could no 
 longer furnish them with provisions. 
 
 "This inconstancy ought to teach us how danger 
 ous it is to leave a post so distant as this without 
 troops. I then saw myself on the point of being 
 abandoned and left a prey to our enemies, who 
 would not have granted us any quarter, and the 
 English would have triumphed. 
 
 "The French were so frightened that they told 
 me they saw clearly it was necessary we should 
 retire as quickly as possible to Michilimacinac. 
 I said to them: What are you thinking of? Is it 
 possible you can entertain such sentiments? What! 
 abandon a post in such a cowardly manner? Dis 
 miss such thoughts, my friends, from your minds. 
 Do things appear so bad? You ought to know that 
 if you should abandon me the Governor-General 
 would follow you everywhere to punish you for your 
 cowardice. What the Indians have just said ought 
 
216 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 not to frighten you. I am going to speak to all the 
 chiefs in private and inspire them with new cour 
 age. Therefore, change your views and let me act, 
 and you will see that everything will go well. 
 They answered me that they did not think of retir 
 ing without my consent nor without me at their 
 head, believing that we could not hold the place if 
 our Indians should abandon us. They begged me 
 to pardon them and assured me they would do all I 
 wished. And, truly, I was afterward very well con 
 tented with them. They did their duty like brave 
 people. 
 
 "I was four days and four nights without taking 
 any repose and without eating and drinking, striving 
 all the time to secure to my interest all the young 
 war chiefs in order to keep the warriors firm, and 
 to encourage them so that they would not quit us 
 until our enemies were defeated. To succeed in 
 this object I stripped myself of all I had, making 
 presents to one and another. You know, sir, that 
 with the Indians one must not be mean. I flatter 
 myself that you will have the goodness to approve 
 all expenditures, which for me are immense, and 
 for the King of no consequence; for otherwise I 
 should be very much to be pitied, having a large 
 family, which occasions me a great expense at 
 Quebec. 
 
 "Having gained all the Indians in private, I held 
 a general council, to which I called all the nations, 
 and said to them: What, my children, when you are 
 just on the point of destroying these wicked nations, 
 do you think of retreating shamefully after having 
 so well begun? Could you lift up your heads 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 217 
 
 again? You would be overwhelmed with confusion. 
 All the other nations would say, Are these the 
 brave warriors who fled so ignominiously after hav 
 ing abandoned the French? Be not troubled; take 
 courage; we will endeavor yet to find a few provi 
 sions. The Hurons and the Ottawas, your brothers, 
 offer you some. 1 will do all I can to comfort you 
 and to aid you. Don t you see that our enemies 
 can hardly preserve their position? Hunger and 
 thirst overpower them. We shall quickly render 
 ourselves masters of their bodies. Will it not be 
 pleasant, after such a result, when you visit Mon 
 treal, to receive there the thanks and friendship of 
 the father of all nations, who will thank you for 
 having risked your lives with me? For you cannot 
 doubt that in the report I shall make to him I shall 
 render justice to each of you for all you will have 
 done. You must also be aware that to defeat these 
 two nations is to give that life and peace to your 
 women and children which they have not yet 
 enjoyed. 
 
 "The young war chiefs whom I had gained did 
 not give me time to finish, but said to me: My 
 father, allow us to interrupt you; we believe there 
 is some liar who has told you falsehoods. We 
 assure you that we all love you too much to abandon 
 you, and we are not such cowards as is reported. 
 We are resolved, even if we are much more pressed 
 with hunger, not to quit you till your enemies are 
 utterly destroyed. All the old men approved of 
 these sentiments and said: Come on, come on, let 
 us hasten to arm ourselves and prove that those are 
 liars who have reported evil of us to our father. 
 
218 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 They then raised a great cry and sung the war song, 
 and danced the war dance, and a large party went 
 to fight. 
 
 "Every day some Sacs, who had lived some time 
 with the Outagamies, left their fort and came to join 
 their people who were with me, and who received 
 them with much pleasure. They made known to us 
 the condition of our enemies, assuring us that they 
 were reduced to the last extremity; that from sixty 
 to eighty women and children had died from hunger 
 and thirst, and that their bodies and the bodies of 
 those who were killed everyday caused an infection 
 in their camp, as they could not inter their dead in 
 consequence of the heavy fire that we continually 
 kept up. 
 
 "Under these circumstances, they demanded per 
 mission to speak to us, which was granted. Their 
 messengers were their two great chiefs, one of 
 peace, the other of war; the first named Allamima 
 and the other Pemoussa. With them were two great 
 Mascoutin chiefs, one Kuit and the other Onabi- 
 maniton. Pemoussa was at the head of the three 
 others, having a crown of wampum upon his head 
 and many belts of wampum on his body, and hung 
 over his shoulders. He was painted with green 
 earth, and supported by seven female slaves, who 
 were also painted and covered with wampum. The 
 three other chiefs had each a Chichory in their 
 hands. All of them marched in order, singing and 
 shouting with all their might, to the song of the 
 Chichories, calling all the devils to their assistance, 
 and to have pity on them. They had even figures 
 of little devils hanging on their girdles. They 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 219 
 
 entered my fort in this manner and, when being 
 placed in the midst of the nations, our allies, they 
 spoke as follows: My father, I speak to you, and 
 to all the nations who are before you. I come to 
 you to demand life. It is no longer ours. You are 
 the masters of it. All the nations have abandoned 
 us. I bring you my flesh in the seven slaves, whom 
 I put at your feet. But do not believe I am afraid 
 to die. It is the life of our women and our children 
 that I ask of you. I beg you to allow the sun to 
 shine; let the sky be clear, that we can see the day, 
 and that, hereafter, our affairs may be prosperous. 
 Here are six belts that we give you, which bind us 
 to you like your slaves. Untie them, we beg you, 
 to show that you give us life. Recollect, ye 
 nations, that you are our great nephews; tell us 
 something, I pray you, which can give pleasure on 
 our return to our village. 
 
 "I left it to our Indians to answer these ambas 
 sadors. They were, however, so much enraged 
 against them that they would not give them any 
 answer. Eight or ten of them asked permission to 
 speak to me in private. 
 
 " My father, we come to ask liberty of you to 
 break the heads of these four great chiefs. They 
 are the men who prevent our enemies from sur 
 rendering at discretion. When these shall be no 
 longer at their head they will find themselves much 
 embarrassed and will surrender. 
 
 "I told them they must be drunk to make me such 
 a proposition. Recollect that they came here upon 
 our word, and you have given me yours. We must 
 act with good faith, and if such a thing be done 
 
220 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 how could you trust one another? Besides, if I 
 acquiesced in this proposition the Governor-General 
 would never pardon me. Dismiss it, therefore, 
 from your thoughts. They must return peaceably. 
 You see clearly that they cannot avoid us, since you 
 resolved not to give them quarter. 
 
 "They confessed I was right and that they were 
 foolish. We dismissed the ambassadors in all 
 safety without, however, giving them any further 
 answer. These poor wretches well knew there was 
 no longer any hope for them. 
 
 "I confess, sir, that I was touched with compas 
 sion at their misfortunes; but as war and pity do 
 not well agree together and particularly as I under 
 stood they were paid by the English for our destruc 
 tion, I abandoned them to their unfortunate fate; 
 indeed, I hastened to have this tragedy finished in 
 order that the example might strike terror to the 
 English and to themselves. 
 
 "The great fire recommenced, more and more 
 violently; the enemy being in despair, beaten in 
 their village and out of it; and when they wished to 
 go for water or to gather a few herbs, to appease 
 their hunger, had no other recourse but an obscure 
 night with rain in order to effect their escape. They 
 awaited it with much impatience, and it came on 
 the nineteenth day of the siege. They did not fail 
 to make use of it, decamping about midnight, and 
 we did not know of their escape until daylight. I 
 encouraged our people and they pursued them very 
 vigorously. Mr. de Vincennes joined in the pur 
 suit, with some Frenchmen, and this gave much 
 pleasure to the Indians. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 221 
 
 "The enemy, not doubting but that they would 
 be pursued, stopped at the Presq isle, which is oppo 
 site Hog island, near Lake St. Clair, four leagues 
 from the fort. 
 
 "Our people, not perceiving their entrenchment, 
 pushed into it, and lost there twenty killed and 
 wounded. It was necessary to form a second siege, 
 and also an encampment. The camp was regularly 
 laid out; there were a hundred canoes every day, as 
 well Ottawas, Hurons, and Chippeways, as Missis- 
 sagas to carry provisions there. The chiefs sent to 
 me for two cannon and all the axes and mattocks 
 that I had, to cut timber, and to place it so as to 
 approach the hostile entrenchment, together with 
 powder and ball. As for the Indian corn, tobacco, 
 and seasoning, they were supplied as usual, without 
 counting all the kettles of the French, which are 
 now lost and that I had to pay for. 
 
 "The enemy held their position for four days, 
 fighting with much courage, and finally, not being 
 able to do anything more, surrendered at discretion 
 to our people, who gave them no quarter. All were 
 killed except the women and children, whose lives 
 were spared, and one hundred men, who had been 
 tied but escaped. 
 
 "All our allies returned to our fort with their 
 slaves, having avoided it before, as they thought it 
 was infective. Their amusement was to shoot four 
 or five of them every day. The Hurons did not 
 spare a single one of theirs. 
 
 "In this manner came to an end, sire, these two 
 wicked nations, who so badly afflicted and troubled 
 all the country. Our reverend father chanted a 
 
222 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 grand mass to render thanks to God for having pre 
 served us from the enemy. 
 
 "The Outagamies and Mascoutins had constructed 
 a very good fort which, as I said, was within pistol 
 shot of mine. Our people did not dare to under 
 take to storm it, notwithstanding all I could say. 
 The works were defended by three hundred men, 
 and our loss would have been great had we assaulted 
 it; but the siege would not have been so long. Our 
 Indians lost sixty men killed and wounded, thirty 
 of whom were killed in the fort, and a Frenchman 
 named Germain, and five or six others were wounded 
 with arrows. The enemy lost a thousand souls, 
 men, women, and children. 
 
 "I ought not to forget, sir, to state that there were 
 about twenty-five Iroquois who had joined them 
 selves to the Hurons of Fond du Lac in this war. 
 These two nations distinguished themselves above 
 all the others and, therefore, their loss had been 
 proportionately greater. They received the thanks 
 of all the Indians and more particularly of the Pot- 
 tawatomies, to whom they made satisfaction for an 
 old quarrel by presents of slaves and pipes. I 
 brought about this accommodation. I dare venture 
 to assure you, sir, that the general assembly of all 
 the nations has put them at peace with one another 
 and renewed their ancient alliance. They calculate 
 upon receiving many presents which they say, sir, 
 you promised them. 
 
 "I have determined, with the consent of his 
 nation, to send to you the grand chief of the Illinois 
 Rock village. His name is Chachagonache. He is 
 a good man and has much authority, and I trust, 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 223 
 
 sir, that you will induce him to make a peace with 
 the Miamis. 
 
 "This affair is of very great consequence, the 
 Miamis having sent me word that they should aban 
 don their village and build another on the Oyou, at 
 the end of Lake Erie. It is precisely where the 
 English are about to erect a fort, according to the 
 belts they have sent to the different nations. They 
 also said that they would be contented if you sent 
 them, sir, a garrison and a reverend father, a Jesuit, 
 and some presents that they say you promised them. 
 
 "Makisabie, the Pottawatomie chief, has much 
 influence over the mind of this Illinois chief. He 
 goes with him. Joseph, who accompanies them, 
 deserves your kindness. I have had much trouble 
 to save his life. 
 
 "I venture, sir, to request that you take care that 
 the Indians who are with Mr. de Vincennes return 
 contented; their visit secures this post. 
 
 "Saguina has complained to me that Mr, Desti- 
 ettes would not wait for him last spring, believing it 
 was through contempt. 
 
 "Poor Otchipouac died this winter. It is a great 
 loss to us, for he had much firmness and was well 
 disposed toward the French. We have another 
 difficult affair which threatens to give us much 
 trouble. The Kickapoos, who live at the mouth of 
 the Maumee river, are about to make war upon us 
 now that our allies have left us; about thirty Mas- 
 coutins have joined them. A canoe of Kickapoos 
 who came here to speak to the three villages has. 
 been defeated by the Hurons and Ottawas. Among 
 them was a principal chief, whose head was brought 
 
224 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 to me, with the heads of three others. This was 
 done out of resentment, because last winter they had 
 taken prisoners some of the Hurons and the Iro- 
 quois; besides, they considered him a true Outaga- 
 mie. I believe that if Mr. de Vincennes had not 
 been at the mouth of the Maumee at the time, the 
 Kickapoos would have killed the two Hurons and 
 the Iroquois. There was every probability of it. 
 Those same Indians took prisoner also Langlois, 
 who was on his return from the Miami country and 
 who had charge of many letters from the reverend 
 fathers, the Jesuits of the Illinois villages. All 
 these letters have been destroyed, which circum 
 stance has given me much uneasiness, as I am sure, 
 sir, there were some for you from Louisiana. They 
 dismissed him, after robbing him of his peltry, 
 charging him to return and tell them the news; but 
 he had no more desire to do that than I had to per 
 mit him. However, the Ottawas might safely send 
 there, because the Kickapoos have among them one 
 of their women with her children. I will endeavor 
 to prevail upon the Ottawas and the Hurons to 
 accommodate their difficulties with the Kickapoos 
 in order that our repose may not be troubled here. 
 "I have the honor to inform you, sir, that I 
 accomplished a measure the last year that Mr. de 
 Lamothe never could effect, during all the time he 
 was here, which was to compel the Ottawas to make 
 a solid peace with the Miamis and to engage them 
 to visit the latter, which, till now, they never would 
 do. I succeeded very happily in the object, the 
 Miamis having received them very kindly, and a 
 durable alliance has been the consequence. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 225 
 
 "I flatter myself, sir, it will be agreeable to you to 
 be informed that Mr. de Vincennes has faithfully 
 performed his duty and that he has labored assidu 
 ously here, as well as on his voyage to the Miamis 
 and Ouyatonons, the last winter. 
 
 "If I am so happy, sir, as to receive your appro 
 bation of my conduct, I shall be fully compensated 
 for all my trouble and shall experience no more 
 dejection. 
 
 "My success has been much owing to the great 
 influence I have over the nations; Mr. de Vin 
 cennes is the witness of this. I do not say this in 
 order to gratify my vanity or to claim any credit, 
 for, truly, I am very tired of Detroit. 
 
 "You can easily judge, sir, in what a condition 
 my affairs must be in consequence of having no 
 presents belonging to the king in my hands. How 
 ever, I venture to trust to your goodness and hope 
 that you will not suffer a devil to be reduced to beg 
 gary. 
 
 "I have the honor to be, with very profound 
 respect, sir, your very humble and very obedient 
 servant, 
 
 "(Signed) Dubuisson. 
 
 "Pontchartrain, 
 "Au Fort du Detroit, June 15, 1712." 
 
 From the following (Collection of Manuscripts, I., 
 622) we may gather some valuable facts; they do 
 not seem to lay all the blame on the Foxes. 
 
 The commandant at Detroit in 1712, wishing to 
 draw the commerce of all the nations to his post, 
 sent some belts of wampum to the Mascoutins and 
 
226 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 Kickapoos to invite them to make a village at 
 Detroit, where he offered them a place which they 
 accepted and, having come to the number of forty 
 families, they there made a fort. In the account 
 the Mascoutins, Kickapoos, and Foxes are grouped 
 together, which is often the case. The Mascoutins, 
 as is well known, by the way, have disappeared, 
 and it is a question if they were not, in fact, a 
 branch of the Fox tribe, unrecognized as such by 
 the French. 
 
 "As the nation is feared and hated by the other 
 nations, because of its arrogance/ says our inform 
 ant, "the fomentation of a conspiracy was com 
 menced by those already established at Detroit, 
 where the Sr. de Buisson was in command. In 1712 
 the Hurons and Ottawas, numbering about nine 
 hundred men, gathered at the fort and to them the 
 commandant opened the gate, which they entered. 
 They quickly mounted the bastions that commanded 
 the fort of the Foxes and made several discharges 
 of musketry. One of the Fox chiefs spoke to the 
 French in a loud voice, saying: What do you wish 
 of us, my father? Thou hast invited us to come and 
 dwell near thee, and thy words [represented by 
 wampum belts] are fresh in our sacks, and yet thou 
 declarest war; what is the cause of your having 
 done this? Apparently, my father, thou hast for 
 gotten that there is not a nation that calls itself thy 
 children that has not dipped its hand in the blood 
 of the French. I am [we are] the only one of them 
 to whom thou canst not make this reproach; and 
 nevertheless, thou joinest our enemies and eat [kill] 
 us; but know thou that the Foxes arc immortal; 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 227 
 
 and if in my defense I shed the blood of the French, 
 thou, my father, canst not reproach me. 
 
 The speech was interrupted by musketry. On the 
 fourth day the Foxes ran short of provisions, and 
 one called out in a high tone: "My father, I am not 
 addressing thee, but saying to the women [squaw- 
 men, a way of calling warriors cowards] who hide 
 in thy fort that if they are as brave as they say, they 
 may detail eighty of their best warriors, and I will 
 oppose them with no more than twenty; and if the 
 eighty defeat us, I will consent that we become 
 their slaves; and if, on the contrary, the twenty 
 defeat them, then they shall be our slaves." 
 
 After the Foxes had escaped from their fort and 
 reached the peninsula that thrusts itself into the 
 river near Lake St. Clair, one of the Fox chiefs 
 called to De Vincennes, who had demanded sur 
 render: "Is it to thee I surrender? Reply at once 
 and tell me, my father, if quarter will be given to 
 our families. Answer me." De Vincennes replied 
 that he would accord to them their lives. 
 
 This memoir is attributed to one M. de Lery. All 
 accounts show that this butchery may have been 
 brought about by treachery on the part of the 
 French. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Revenge was ever sweet to an Indian, and the 
 Foxes never were free from the desire to seek 
 revenge for their many wrongs, even though the 
 danger was so great as possibly to lead to their own 
 destruction. The few who escaped massacre at 
 Detroit evidently found their way to the south end 
 of Green Bay and united with the portion of their 
 tribe there that had long affiliated with the Sacs. 
 No better locality could have been found in which 
 to retaliate than along the Wisconsin river, and 
 they did not miss many opportunities to return to 
 their old methods. Travelers from Green Bay to 
 the Mississippi took their lives in their hands when 
 ever they passed and failed to pay tribute. Through 
 the machinations of the Foxes the other routes to 
 the Mississippi were also made dangerous to the 
 traders. With the exception of the Sioux, although 
 sometimes against them, and the Iroquois with 
 whom they were at times allied, all the nations who 
 were on friendly terms with the French suffered 
 greatly from the depredations of the Foxes, and it 
 was feared that if a speedy remedy was not applied 
 the greater number of the Indian tribes would 
 become reconciled with the Foxes to the prejudices 
 of the French. It is said that some Sioux and Iro 
 quois secretly joined the Foxes in some of their 
 depredations. (Ferland, II., 204.) 
 
 All this prompted Marquis de Vaudreuil, when 
 229 
 
230 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 Governor of Canada, to propose a union of the 
 French with the Indian tribes in an expedition to 
 exterminate the common enemy. M. de Louvigny 
 led a party of eight hundred men, all resolved not 
 to lay down arms while the Foxes remained. 
 
 The Foxes had selected a stronghold at what is 
 now known as Butte des Morts, before referred to. 
 More than five hundred warriors and three thousand 
 women and children shut themselves up in a fort 
 surrounded by three ranges of palisades, with a ditch 
 in the rear. Three hundred warriors were on the 
 way to reenforce them, but they did not arrive in 
 time. De Louvigny, finding them thus strongly 
 entrenched, attacked them in form. He had two 
 field-pieces and a grenade mortar. 
 
 The trenches were opened about a hundred yards 
 from the fort, and on the third day he was only 
 about twenty-five yards distant when the besieged 
 made a great attack by firing on the French. 
 
 De Louvigny was preparing to undermine the 
 works when the Foxes proposed terms of capitula 
 tion, which were finally agreed to. A treaty of 
 peace was to be made between the Foxes on one 
 hand and the French and their Indian allies on the 
 other; all of the prisoners were to be given up at 
 once; the]dead French and allies were to be replaced 
 by slaves, which the Foxes were to obtain from the 
 neighboring nations with whom they were at war. 
 The expenses of the war were to be paid from the 
 results of the chase by the Foxes, and their country 
 was to be ceded to the French. The Foxes gave 
 six hostages, all chiefs or sons of chiefs, and prom 
 ised to send some deputies to Montreal to sign the 
 
Fair ones of the Tama Reservation. 
 
 Harvesting wild rice. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 231 
 
 treaty, in which they declared that they would cede 
 all their country to the French. Pemoussa, who was 
 spared at Detroit the year previous, and two others 
 of the hostages who went, died during the following 
 winter of smallpox at Montreal, and this deranged 
 the plans of De Vaudreuil who, fearing that the 
 treacherous Foxes would not carry the whole terms 
 of the treaty into effect, sent De Louvigny back to 
 Mackinaw with orders to have the treaty fully exe 
 cuted and to bring chiefs of that nation to him at 
 Montreal. 
 
 In May, 1717, De Louvigny arrived at Mackinaw 
 with one of the hostages, who had been attacked 
 with the smallpox, as the others, and had been made 
 blind in one eye by it. As soon as he arrived De 
 Louvigny sent this chief to the Foxes with presents 
 to cover the dead, accompanied by two interpreters. 
 They were well received, the calumet was smoked, 
 and after some days of grieving for the dead, the 
 chiefs met to listen to the hostage. He represented 
 all matters in a proper manner, and reproached the 
 chiefs for not having repaired to Mackinaw. The 
 chiefs said that they were sensible of the kindness 
 which the Governor continued to show them, ex 
 cused themselves for not having already sent depu 
 ties in fulfillment of the treaty, and promised to 
 fulfill their obligations the following year, giving 
 their promise in writing, and adding that they would 
 never forget that they held their lives as a gift from 
 the great father. 
 
 The hostage came away with the interpreters to 
 rejoin De Louvigny at Mackinaw; but after travel 
 ing about twenty leagues he left them, saying that it 
 
232 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 was necessary that he should return and oblige the 
 nation to keep its word. Nothing further was heard 
 from him. The Foxes did not send deputies to the 
 Governor-General; and although he flattered him 
 self for a while that they would do so, he was only 
 taught by the renewal of the old practices by the 
 Foxes that an enemy driven to a certain point is 
 always irreconcilable. It is true that their pride 
 was greatly humbled and that a few years afterward 
 they abandoned their old home and retired to the 
 west side of the Mississippi; but in the meanwhile 
 many battles were fought with them, while the 
 Foxes, on their part, had obliged the Illinois to 
 abandon their river forever. Although, after re 
 peated defeats, it could scarcely be considered that 
 there remained enough of the Foxes to form a 
 trifling village, yet no one ventured to go from 
 Canada to Louisiana without taking great precau 
 tions against surprises. 
 
 They soon renewed their old persecutions, and the 
 courcurs du bois found the region that was thus aban 
 doned by the Illinois too dangerous to frequent, and 
 although it abounded in peltries, they preferred not 
 to venture there for them. 
 
 After the expedition of De Louvigny, the Foxes 
 gradually increased in numbers, and in 1718 they 
 were reported to have five hundred men at their 
 village on the Fox river of Wisconsin, which 
 abounded in a multitude of women and children. 
 (N. Y. Col. Docs, IX., 889.) They were said to be 
 as industrious as people could be; they gathered 
 wild rice and raised large quantities of Indian corn, 
 pumpkins, and melons. Their customs differed 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 233 
 
 little from those of their neighbors; they had the 
 same kind of dances and games as the Pottawato- 
 mies and other tribes, but differed in dress, for the 
 men wore little clothing and the greater portion of 
 them did not even wear a breech-cloth. As for the 
 women, they were all well dressed, and the girls, in 
 addition, wore black or brown fawn-skins embel 
 lished all around with little beads, or copper or tin 
 trinkets, and also wore blankets. "They were 
 pretty enough," says one writer, "and not black." 
 There was excellent hunting in these parts, and the 
 people lived well in consequence of the abundance 
 of meat and fish; of the latter the Fox river was said 
 to be very full. In the same account they are said 
 to have been fifty leagues (about 121 miles), in the 
 direction of Chicagou, from the Mascoutins and 
 Kickapoos, who resided together in a village on the 
 bank of a river, the name of which was forgotten by 
 the narrator. O Callaghan, editor of the New York 
 Colonial Documents, in a footnote, gives the Rock 
 river of Illinois as the location of the Mascoutins 
 and Kickapoos at the time, which is undoubtedly 
 correct, but if the Foxes were one hundred and 
 twenty miles from them in the direction of Chicago, 
 they must have been located near Chicago. If so 
 located, possibly on the Fox river of Illinois, it 
 must have been only for a very short period of time 
 for, as will be seen, they soon after left their old 
 home on the Fox river of Wisconsin and passed 
 westward toward the Mississippi river, and finally 
 down the latter to Rock Island. The Pottawatomies 
 and Miamis seem to have left the St. Joseph river 
 about 1718, for a time at least. 
 
234 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 A writer, in a memoir on the Indians between 
 Lake Erie and Lake Superior, dated 1717 (N. Y. Col. 
 Docs., X., 890), says: "I believed they left it (the 
 St. Joseph river) only because of the war between 
 the Sacs, Foxes, and Ottawas, and all the other tribes 
 of those parts. It is thirty leagues from the Rock. 
 The Ouitanons, a branch of the Miamis, were also 
 at Chicago, but being afraid of the canoe people 
 (Pottawatomies and others) left it." 
 
 The early writers did not always distinguish 
 between the Illinois and Miamis, for the tribes were 
 often at peace with each other and their villages near 
 together. The Foxes and tribes allied with them 
 made war on the Illinois and Miamis and drove 
 them from the northern part of what is now the 
 state of Illinois. The Illinois occupied a position 
 near "The Rock" on the banks of the Illinois river 
 (Starved Rock), at the time the French occupied 
 the Rock, which was fortified. From their lofty 
 position they could see the prairies on which herds 
 of buffalo grazed. The branch of the Illinois tribe 
 known as the "Illinois of the Rock" (Peorias) 
 remained in the vicinity until long after other parts 
 of this tribe had settled at the new town of Kaskas- 
 kia, on the Mississippi river. They joined the rest 
 of the tribe about 1730, and we shall see the Foxes 
 there took revenge. 
 
 The Foxes often sought big game, and so at one 
 time succeeded in killing some Ojibwa chiefs who 
 resided on the southern shore of Lake Superior. 
 That tribe threatened war upon the Foxes and, as 
 well, other tribes adjacent to Green Bay. It 
 required great effort on the part of the Governor, 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 235 
 
 through deputies, to calm these people; but the 
 Foxes were finally induced to send three deputies 
 to Montreal, in company with a Kickapoo chief, 
 who was sent by his people and the Mascoutins, to 
 assure the Governor that they were really disposed 
 to preserve peace with all nations, but peace was 
 not brought by mere words, and war was continued 
 between the Illinois, on the one hand, and the Kick- 
 apoos and Mascoutins on the other. The Foxes 
 again became involved because the Illinois had 
 attacked them on several occasions and had killed 
 and made prisoners several of their people, regard 
 less of the fact that the Foxes had not made the 
 attack. On eight different occasions the prison 
 ers which the Kickapoos had taken from the Illinois 
 and presented to the Foxes had been released by 
 the Foxes, who always instructed them, on the part 
 of the chiefs, that if they were disposed for peace 
 they had only to come to their village where they 
 would be safe. The excuses offered by the Foxes 
 for having finally joined against the Illinois ap 
 peared reasonable, and the Kickapoo deputy repre 
 sented to the Governor that he did not commence 
 hostilities, but that the Illinois had attacked him at 
 a time when he entertained no other hopes than to 
 live in peace with all the nations. The Governor 
 gave the deputies to understand that peace must be 
 made, and in order to conclude it they must prevail 
 upon their allies, the Sacs, to labor to that end. 
 He requested them not to make any movement 
 against the Illinois nation during the negotiations; 
 but even while the negotiations for peace were 
 going on, a party of forty Illinois who had just struck 
 
236 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 a blow, having encountered, on their way, a party 
 of Foxes, Kickapoos, and Mascoutins, were so com 
 pletely surrounded that not one of them escaped, 
 twenty of them having been killed on the spot and 
 as many taken prisoners. 
 
 It can hardly be said that anything precipitated 
 the last great war with the Foxes, but a very near 
 approach to it was the affair connected with Father 
 Michael Guignas, a Jesuit missionary, who came to 
 Canada in 1716, and two years later was assigned to 
 the Mission at Mackinaw. In 1727 he accompanied 
 Governor Beauharnois to Lake Pipin, where a fort 
 was built and a mission established. In the follow 
 ing year the French were obliged to leave this post 
 on account of the hostility of the Foxes, but 
 returned to it in a few years, but not until after one 
 of the most numerous branches of the tribe had 
 been destroyed, at a point on the Fox river of Illi 
 nois at the site of ancient Maramech. 
 
 While descending the Mississippi river, from Fort 
 Beauharnois, Guignas and his comrades were cap 
 tured (October 15, 1728) by the Mascoutins and 
 Kickapoos, still located in the southwestern part of 
 Wisconsin. He was kept in captivity five months, 
 and narrowly escaped being burned at the stake. 
 (/. R., LXV1IL, 329.) With him were sixteen 
 Frenchmen, all on their way to one of the Illinois 
 villages that had been established about thirty years 
 before at the great river. The name Kaskaskia they 
 had carried with them from the village on the Illi 
 nois river, opposite "Rock Fort," now known as 
 Starved Rock, which they had been forced to aban 
 don. "The time at last came," we are told of 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 237 
 
 Guignas, "when he was to be burned alive, and he 
 prepared himself to finish his life in this horrible 
 torment, when he was adopted by an old man who 
 saved his life and procured him his liberty. Other 
 missionaries who were among the Illinois were no 
 sooner made acquainted with his sad situation than 
 they procured him all the alleviations they were 
 able to. Everything he received he employed in 
 conciliating the savages, and he succeeded to such 
 an extent that he induced them to conduct him to 
 the Illinois, and while there to make peace with the 
 French and with the savages of that region. Eight 
 months after this peace was concluded, the Mascou- 
 tins and Kickapoos returned again to the Illinois 
 country and took Father Guignas to spend the win 
 ter with them, from whence, in all probability, he 
 will return to Canada. He has been exceedingly 
 broken down by these fatiguing journeys, but his 
 zeal, full of fire and activity, seems to give him 
 strength." 
 
 Later he was found at Fort Beauharnois and 
 remained in that region until 1739. Although many 
 historians say that nothing was heard of him after 
 the encounter with the Foxes, still we find a state 
 ment that he died at Quebec, February 5, 1752. In 
 the reports sent by Father Nau to his superior he 
 says: "The war is still carried on against the Fox 
 nation and against other tribes which have taken 
 them under their protection. Father Guignas was 
 not taken, as it was feared, but he has much to 
 suffer, for nothing can be sent him safely. For two 
 consecutive years the provisions sent him have 
 fallen into the enemy s hands." (/. R., LXV., 
 
238 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 233.) This probably refers to the time when Father 
 Guignas was at Fort Beauharnois the second time, 
 as above stated. 
 
 There evidently remained enough of the Foxes 
 associated with the Sacs to annoy the father much 
 for a long time after the slaughter of 1730. Father 
 Aulneau says: "We received a few days ago news 
 of Father Guignas, of whom we had not heard since 
 1732. He is in a helpless condition; the hunger he 
 has had to endure and constant dangers which he 
 has been continually exposed to of being massacred 
 by the Sacs and Foxes, and numerous other hard 
 ships borne heroically, have brought him so low 
 that even the savages, who have little pity for us, 
 are forced to look upon him with feelings of com 
 passion." (/. R., LXVIII., 257.) Father Nau 
 further says: "Our people have a war on their hands 
 this long time with a savage tribe called the Foxes. 
 It has been in a very slight degree successful, 
 through the impossibility in which our troops are of 
 ever overtaking them in sufficient numbers to 
 destroy them. Last year ninety of our young men 
 joined a French expedition against the Foxes; but 
 after inconceivable hardships and a journey of more 
 than seven hundred leagues, the guides led them 
 astray, and they were obliged to make their way 
 back without having caught sight of the enemy, 
 save in one instance. A party of twenty-three sav 
 ages, nearly all of our mission, and seven French 
 men had somehow become separated from the main 
 body when they found themselves suddenly sur 
 rounded by a war party of two hundred Foxes. Our 
 men would have been destroyed had it not been for 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 239 
 
 the resolution of the Iroquois. We are all dead 
 men, he said, if we surrender. There is no help 
 for it; we will have to sell our lives as dearly as 
 possible. Let us show the Foxes that we are Iro 
 quois and Frenchmen/ Whereupon he led the war 
 riors to the attack. The enemy could not stand the 
 first onslaught and retreated precipitately to their 
 fort. Thirty Foxes were laid low and ten taken 
 prisoners; our party lost but two Frenchmen and 
 one savage." Hebbard s Wisco?isin under Dominion 
 of France, p. 142, speaks of this expedition as having 
 been in August, 1734, when the Foxes were found 
 on the Des Moines river of Iowa. The attack was a 
 failure and ended only in negotiations for peace. 
 The expedition was under the command of De 
 Noyelle, who, in 1730, as we shall see, aided in 
 defeating the Foxes (we may as well say aided in 
 the massacre), at the site of the ancient village of 
 Maramech. It was not until 1733 that peace, to any 
 extent effective, was concluded between the French 
 and the Foxes with others associated with the latter. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Turning back to 1710, we read that some French 
 men, who for a time had traded with the Sioux, 
 found the route blockaded by the Foxes, and that 
 the Foxes had, in many ways, attempted to embit 
 ter the Sioux against the French, on the ground that 
 the latter were only wishing to aid the Sioux and 
 lead them to their own final injury. They made a 
 pretext that the French clandestine traders (the 
 coureurs du bois] were supplying the Sioux with pow 
 der, lead, arms, and merchandise. Ten years before 
 this, La Sueur s journal tells us, that that traveler 
 met, on the Mississippi river, five Canadians, one of 
 whom was dangerously wounded in the head; they 
 were naked and had no arms except a wretched gun 
 with five or six charges of powder and ball. They 
 said .that they were descending from the Sioux to 
 go to the Tamarois and that they had met with nine 
 canoes, carrying ninety Indians, who had plundered 
 and cruelly beaten them. The party was going to 
 war against the Sioux and was made up of .four 
 different nations, Foxes, Sacs, Pottawatomies, and 
 Winnebagoes. The Indians no doubt intended the 
 robbery as a punishment to the Frenchmen for hav 
 ing taken arms to the Sioux. The Foxes were jeal 
 ous of what they considered their rights and, as 
 before, levied tribute on all who passed along their 
 river. This jealousy continued for many years. 
 Father Chardon, a missionary at Green Bay, wrote 
 
 241 
 
242 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 to his superiors, even as late as 1733, that it would 
 be difficult to establish a mission at the Sioux 
 because of the interference of the Foxes and Kicka- 
 poos who, two years before, had killed two French 
 men. The Foxes declared that they would not let 
 the French go to the Sioux because they not only 
 carried arms, but the commerce that the French 
 made diminished their own commerce^ considerably, 
 as otherwise, as middlemen, they could carry on a 
 profitable trade between the French and the Sioux. 
 Notwithstanding this opposition, the Foxes suc 
 ceeded in getting the Sioux to join them and attack 
 some of the French who were on their way to the 
 Illinois. Prior to this, fragments of these two tribes 
 attacked the French who were established at the 
 Illinois village. Being so embittered against the 
 Illinois they could not be made to end the war they 
 had been engaged in for so many years. 
 
 In 1727 an association of Frenchmen was formed 
 to attempt trade with the Sioux. The uncertainty 
 of reaching the latter was such that, in the articles 
 of association, there was a provision to the effect 
 that in case the traders were prevented by the 
 Foxes, from passing to the Sioux, they were to be 
 permitted to trade their merchandise wherever it 
 seemed best, under the orders of the officer com 
 manding, who would direct the manner and place 
 for the purpose. (Affluents Mississippi, p. 548.) 
 
 Father Charlevoix encountered fragments of this 
 ruthless tribe. He tells us, in speaking of the cus 
 tom of burning prisoners: "Sometimes the prisoners 
 are judged and executed before arriving at the vil 
 lage of their captors. At one time a Frenchman 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 243 
 
 having been taken by the Foxes, the latter held a 
 council, on their route homeward, to determine 
 what they should do with the prisoner." The way 
 they reached a conclusion "was to throw a stick up 
 in a tree a certain number of times, and if it 
 remained there the prisoner was to be burned, but 
 if it fell to the ground his life was to be spared." 
 
 While passing down the Illinois river, near Peoria 
 lake, the father and ,his Frenchmen found forty 
 Canadians, who informed him that he would soon be 
 in the midst of four parties of Foxes and that he 
 would have safety neither in advancing nor return 
 ing. There were thirty Foxes in ambush, and an 
 equal number of the same around the village of 
 Pimiteouy, and others, to the number of eighty, 
 held themselves in readiness lower down the river. 
 The canoes of the fleet that carried the father 
 landed at the foot of an island for the purpose of 
 procuring game, and while there heard noises of 
 wood-chopping. The nearness of the Illinois vil 
 lage of Pimiteouy led them to judge that the noise 
 came from some Illinois who were doing this, yet it 
 had much the appearance that the Foxes had dis 
 covered them and, not daring to attack them, wished 
 to draw some of the French into the woods. The 
 father believed that the lack of curiosity on the part 
 of the French proved their safety. Thirty Illinois 
 warriors, commanded by the chief of the village of 
 Pimiteouy, were on the march to endeavor to get 
 reliable information in regard to the enemy. A few 
 days before their departure an engagement had 
 taken place in the neighborhood, where the two 
 parties had each made a prisoner. The Fox that 
 
244 
 
 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 was taken had been burned, a gunshot distant from 
 the village, and the body yet remained tied on its 
 frame. 
 
 The custom of the Illinois in torturing a prisoner, 
 it may be said in passing, was to plant two posts 
 and secure a cross-bar near the ground to which the 
 feet of the prisoner were tied, some distance apart, 
 and another cross-bar at sufficient height to tie his 
 outstretched arms well apart. A slow fire beneath, 
 "to give their friend warmth," as they would tan- 
 talizingly say, was usually the beginning of the tor 
 ture. Firebrands and necklaces of hot hatchets 
 were resorted to. Shower-baths of hot ashes and 
 coals, and various other amusements followed. 
 
 The Canadians who had assisted in torturing the 
 prisoner told the father that he endured the torment 
 five hours, and that the unfortunate had, up to the 
 time of his death, insisted that he was an Illinois 
 who had been taken prisoner by the Foxes in his 
 infancy and had been adopted by them. He could 
 offer no proofs of this assertion, and suffered slow 
 death in consequence. Unlike most savages, when 
 submitted to the tortures, this prisoner uttered dis 
 tressing cries. An old Illinois warrior, whose sons 
 had been killed by the Foxes, inspired by re 
 venge, did more than others to torture the prisoner 
 in every way that he could invent. Finally the 
 sufferer s cries excited the pity of one who, with a 
 view to ending his misery, enveloped him in cloth 
 ing of dry grass and set fire to it. As he still 
 breathed after the grass had been consumed, the 
 children were permitted to pierce his body with 
 arrows. Usually, where the prisoners did not die 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 245 
 
 bravely, it was a woman or a child that was per 
 mitted to give the stroke of death, as he did not 
 merit to die by the hand of a warrior. 
 
 Father Charlevoix, the Jesuit priest who told the 
 story, was a fair historian, but the fact that he, like 
 Bancroft, gave to the Jesuit missionaries credit for 
 most of the discoveries in America, rather than to 
 the traders who ever preceded them, becomes 
 apparent to his readers. The traders sometimes put 
 on the cloak of religion, by taking missionaries with 
 them in their excursions, in order to win commer 
 cial privileges from the zealous Christian king of 
 France. 
 
 Charlevoix was observing, and tells us much in 
 regard to the region of country that we now see to 
 have become one of the garden spots of the world. 
 Passing down the Illinois river, he mentions many 
 tributaries thereof. "The largest," he wrote, "is 
 named the Pisticoui and comes from the beautiful 
 country of the Mascoutins, and it has at its mouth 
 a rapid named La Charboniere, because of the rich 
 coal-beds found on either hand. One sees on this 
 route little more than immense prairies, sown with 
 little bunches of woods that appear to have been 
 planted by the hand of man. The grasses are so 
 high that one becomes lost but for paths that are as 
 well beaten as in well-populated countries. How 
 ever, nothing passes over them but buffalo and, 
 from time to time, herds of deer and antelope." 
 
 Along the Pestekouy (the Fox river) fora distance 
 above its mouth, the soil has been turned, during 
 recent years, to strip the beds of coal that lie 
 unconformably upon the St. Peter s Sandstone 
 
246 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 through which the ancient Pestekouy cut its way. 
 Where was this rapid may now be the Dayton dam 
 that turns the waters of the river into the canal 
 feeder at Ottawa. The father does not tell us that 
 he passed up the Pestekouy, but he certainly did 
 have correct information regarding it. The Peste 
 kouy is laid down on all maps as heading far up in 
 the country of the Mascoutins, and the father could 
 not have better spoken of the richness of the region 
 through which it runs had his canoe stemmed its 
 current. 
 
 Near where heads the stream, at one of its many 
 summer-sought enlargements, is laid down Pistakee 
 lake, that still bears the erstwhile name of the river. 
 The river and lake were so named because of the 
 herds of buffalo that grazed on the bordering 
 prairies. In Lanman s History of Michigan (1839), 
 on the map, is shown a bit each of Illinois and Wis 
 consin, and there we find, above the lake, the word 
 "PISTAKA." As there seen, the river also persists 
 in being known by its ancient name, Pistaka, the 
 English interpretation of the French spelling Peste 
 kouy. 
 
 While passing down the Illinois river the father 
 met the Illinois and Miami tribes. The latter 
 claimed to him to have originally come from the 
 sea, far to the west. These tribes united firmly in 
 i697, for the first time, succeeded in making a stand 
 against the Iroquois and, having driven them back, 
 forced them into the treaty of peace of 1702. (Mis 
 sissippi Basin, p. 15.) 
 
 The Illinois and Foxes were still enemies, and the 
 former, in 1722, captured the nephew of Oushala, 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 247 
 
 the principal Fox war chief, and burned him alive. 
 War resulted. (Starved Rock, p. 49.) The Foxes 
 then attacked the Illinois and drove them to the top 
 of Starved Rock and held them there at their mercy. 
 These Illinois were of the Peoria branch, the last to 
 cling to the region about the famous stronghold of 
 La Salle; all the other Illinois had fled to the west. 
 Mr. Hebbard, in Wisconsin under the Dominion of 
 France, tells us: "Unluckily we know nothing of the 
 details of the siege, except the number of the slain 
 twenty Peorias and one hundred and twenty of the 
 besiegers but ^the bare figures are quite eloquent. 
 They tell not of a mere blockade, but of fierce 
 assaults, storming parties, desperate attempts to 
 scale the heights the old story of Foxes fury and 
 reckless courage." The author of Starved Rock 
 tells us that the "news of this attack on the Peorias 
 having reached Fort Chartres, a detachment of a 
 hundred men, commanded by Chevalier d Artagui- 
 ette and Sieur de Tisne, was sent to their assistance. 
 Before these reinforcements reached the Rock, 
 however, the Foxes raised the siege and departed." 
 The Peorias, on or about this time, abandoned their 
 home near the Illinois river, and united with the 
 other branches of the tribe at Kaskaskia; so that, 
 after all, the Foxes again had control of the very 
 heart of New France, along the Illinois river. "It 
 was a grave disaster to the French," Charlevoix 
 says, "for now that there is nothing to check the 
 raids of the Foxes, communication between Canada 
 and Louisiana became less practicable. " The hand 
 ful of warriors of the Fox tribe were so troublesome 
 to the French that the matter was taken up at Vcr- 
 
248 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 sailles, France, and it was decided "that the Foxes 
 must be effectually put down and that His Majesty 
 would reward the officer who could reduce or rather 
 destroy them." It seems from the above that the 
 last of the" Illinois left the Rock in 1722, and all 
 historians substantially agree as to this date; but 
 when I write the account of the struggle between 
 the French and allies on one hand and the Foxes on 
 the other, eight years later, we shall find certain of 
 the allies referred to in the military reports from 
 which I shall quote, as the "Illinois of the Rock." 
 It seems from this that some of the Peoria branch of 
 the Illinois tribe for sometime had been called "the 
 Illinois of the Rock," and that the braver ones hov 
 ered about their old hunting-grounds and thus, as 
 we shall find, were among the first to give warning 
 of the attempt of the Foxes to pass through the 
 former hunting-grounds of the Illinois to those of 
 the Iroquois, where they hoped to find an asylum. 
 
 While so near let us learn of the Rock. Echoes 
 of forgotten tragedies and romance seem to resound 
 over Starved Rock, and traditions of sad events 
 seem to be whispered by the soughing oaks and 
 sighing pines that crown the summit of this natural 
 fortress. A half century ago a pretty story was 
 written that found its" way into the school readers 
 of the day, entitled Starved Rock, or The Last of 
 the Illinois. Purely fiction though it probably 
 was, all there depicted might have been. So 
 charmed was I with the story that whenever oppor 
 tunity offered I visited the place. A more fertile 
 field for the flowers of romance cannot be found. 
 I have stood upon the summit and watched the ris- 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 249 
 
 ing sun over the westward-flowing Illinois river that 
 narrows to the sight until it is lost in the distant 
 bend. Beautiful islands, that were the fields of the 
 natives, divide the river; and there are still fields 
 that rustle in the summer winds as did the fields of 
 those who, two hundred years ago, taught the 
 intruders to plant and tend the golden corn. 
 Buffalo Rock, on the river s northern bank, for 
 many years was the home of a branch of the Miami 
 tribe brought there by La Salle who, at a treaty 
 held on the St. Joseph river, convinced them that it 
 was to their interest to unite with the Illinois for 
 common defense. A rock indeed, but not a barren 
 one. Its surface was, back in geological ages, cov 
 ered unconformably by a seam of coal, the debris of 
 ferns, sturdy as the palms of our day, and a thin 
 seam of carboniferous shales and surface soil. 
 Great trees offered shade, and blue grass carpeted it. 
 Where once were the cabins of these people the soil 
 has been stripped, by the enterprising miner, for the 
 fossil sunshine beneath. This rock, covering a large 
 area, precipitous at nearly all points, was a place of 
 easy defense. 
 
 One gathers from the description given by most 
 recent writers that what is now known as Starved 
 Rock is a promontory, but this is not true, although 
 half the pleasure-seekers who visit it, and tire not of 
 telling of its beautiful surroundings, come away 
 believing it to be but a height thrust northward from 
 the range of hills that are upon the same plane as 
 the prairie beyond the woods that border the river. 
 The fact is that the path that leads from the river 
 passes up to a neck that connects two otherwise iso- 
 
250 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 lated rocks. The one upon which was the ancient 
 fort is somewhat higher and larger, and rises with a 
 sheer front from the >iver. Back of this double- 
 summited rock is a well-defined swamp that is 
 drained by a small stream passing to the east, and 
 north into the river. To the west the land is low, 
 and during the rainy season the Rock may well be 
 considered an island, for upon the west side also the 
 water then flows down a slight ravine to the river. 
 
 Although the site of Fort St. Louis has never been 
 lost, Francis Parkman claims to have discovered it. 
 The tales of early French affairs in the west identify, 
 and a multitude of two-centuries-old maps mark its 
 place. Some late writers lead us to the old Shawnee 
 earthworks on the neighboring hills, and others say 
 that on Lovers Leap, Tonty built the fort. 
 
 "Lovers Leap" is but a cliff terminating an exten 
 sion of the prairie and, not being "isolated and 
 approachable only at a single point," cannot have 
 been referred to as "the Rock." The definition of 
 the French word roche is given as a rock "very 
 large and isolated." 
 
 A question as to the location of Fort St. Louis has 
 been raised by the Hon. Perry Armstrong, of Mor 
 ris, Illinois, and uncertainty is also entertained by 
 others, which I attribute to unfamiliarity with the 
 early French records and maps, many of which, it 
 may be said, have not long been accessible. More 
 than a score of maps before me show the fort on the 
 south side of the Illinois river, somewhere between 
 the mouth of the Fox river and the Vermilion. 
 This general location has never been disputed, but 
 the exact place of the Rock is the matter con- 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 251 
 
 troverted. Before turning to the French writers, 
 every one of whom spent either days or months or 
 years at the post, one may well read what Mr. Arm 
 strong says, in his valuable article on "The Piasa" : 
 
 "Standing on the south bank of the Illinois river, 
 about eight miles below the city of Ottawa, is a sin 
 gularly shaped St. Peter s Sandstone rock, which 
 rises up from the river s edge one hundred and 
 forty-seven feet. Its surface embraces an area of 
 about half an acre* and is overlaid with earth sev 
 eral feet deep, studded with a few small red cedar 
 trees. It is circular in shape, and its walls are 
 nearly perpendicular, except a small space on the 
 south side, where persons can climb up. But this 
 passageway is so narrow that it was easily defended 
 by those on the summit." 
 
 Now follows La Salle s description of the Rock, 
 written in 1682, or possibly 1683 (Margry, II., 175): 
 
 "It is situated six leaguesf below the said village 
 [Kaskaskia, which shifting village must then have 
 been near the mouth of the Fox river], on the left 
 bank in descending the river on the summit of a 
 rock, steep nearly all around; the river bathes at the 
 foot, so that one can draw water to the top of the 
 rock which is about six hundred feet around. It is 
 inaccessible except on one side, where the ascent is 
 yet quite high." 
 
 * By pacing I have made the area of the Rock to be about 
 f of an acre upon its level summit, but, if taken over all, an 
 acre is not far out of the way. Differences in the way of meas 
 uring its area have been the cause of the different estimates. 
 
 f A French land league was then 2.42 miles. Distances 
 were guessed by the travelers, who, as Charlevoix says, almost 
 always overestimated, because of the difficulty of traveling. 
 
252 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 La Salle again wrote (Margry, II., 122): "The vil 
 lage of the Illinois is on the north side of the river. 
 On the south is a great rock, very high, sharp and 
 almost everywhere steep, with the exception of one 
 place, where it inclines to the edge of the water." 
 
 Nicholas La Salle (said by Margry not to have 
 been in the same line of descent as the great 
 explorer) wrote in 1683: "He proceeded to make a 
 fort of wood on a rock on the border of the river of 
 the Illinois, face to face with their village." 
 
 Tonty says (Margry, I., 613), in speaking of La 
 Salle: "He came to join me on the 3Oth of Decem 
 ber, and during the winter we there constructed the 
 Fort of St. Louis on an inaccessible rock, whither La 
 Salle had induced the Shawnees to come." 
 
 Charlevoix, who visited the place in 1721 (VI., 
 119, edition of 1744), makes as bad an estimate of 
 distances as any when he places the fort a league 
 from Buffalo Rock, and the latter only a league 
 from the mouth of the beautiful "Pisticoui," the 
 country bordering which he praises so highly. "At 
 the end of another league [from Buffalo Rock, 
 where was the fort of the Miamis], on the left, one 
 sees a similar rock, which has been named sim 
 ply Le Rocher; this is a plateau, much elevated, 
 two hundred feet of which border the river, which 
 river is here much enlarged. The Rock is almost 
 perpendicular and, at a distance, one takes it for a 
 fortress. One yet sees there some remains of pali 
 sades, because the Illinois had formerly made there 
 an entrenchment, in which it was easy for them to 
 seek shelter in case of any irruption on the part of 
 their enemies. Their village is at the foot of this 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 253 
 
 rock on an island, which, with several others, all of 
 a marvelous fertility, separate, at this place, the 
 river into two channels quite large." 
 
 Joutel, who spent the winter of 1687-88 at the fort, 
 wrote: "Fort Louis is in the country of the Illinois 
 and seated on a steep rock about two hundred feet 
 high, the river running at the base of it. It is forti 
 fied with stakes and palisades only, and some houses 
 advancing to the edge of the rock. It has a very 
 spacious esplanade, or place of arms. The place is 
 naturally strong and might be made more so by art, 
 at little expense. Several of the natives live in it, 
 in their huts." 
 
 La Potherie, who wrote in 1704 (Vol. II., 141) 
 says, speaking of La Salle: "He established him 
 self upon a steep rock, which was accessible only 
 by a little path." 
 
 It is plain to one familiar with the surrounding 
 country that these descriptions apply to none other 
 than Starved Rock. 
 
 I now refer to Mathieu Sagean, whose travels, 
 both real and imaginary, extended from 1683 to 
 1699, not because the unlettered man can be consid 
 ered to have been an authority, but because he was 
 a contemporaneous traveler and conversant with the 
 country, though it is doubtful if he ever saw Fort 
 St. Louis. In the following (Margry, VI., 99) he 
 probably repeats descriptions given by others: "De 
 La Salle and his troups went to the country of the 
 Illinois, another nation on the borders of the said 
 river, about eighty leagues farther up, where they 
 established Fort Saint Louis, upon an island adjacent 
 to the mainland, with which they communicated by 
 
254 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 means of a drawbridge. It took six or seven months 
 to build the fort, with the help of the savages, after 
 which La Salle, having left De Tonty, a French gen 
 tleman, in command," etc. Reference to Tonty as 
 being a Frenchman, shows that Sagean knew little 
 of him personally, but his description of the Rock is 
 not bad. 
 
 The opinion that the site of the fort was prac 
 tically an island, is borne out by the facts; for 
 Starved Rock is bounded by the river in front, and 
 in the rear by ponds, swamps and a little stream 
 leading therefrom. 
 
 Accounts lead to the conclusion that a bridge led 
 to the gate of the palisades; and careful digging 
 out of the debris, with a cane, disclosed to me one 
 of the steps, and part of the other, in which were 
 laid the long timbers that formed the stringers of 
 the bridge which, only a few feet high, reached, 
 with a slight incline, part way up the steep path 
 way. The bridge may have had a draw, as Sagean 
 says; probably it had, for that would have been 
 wise. 
 
 I seem to stand again, as I once stood, upon the 
 western crest of the Rock, and watch the coming 
 storm. Beautiful islands part the waters of the 
 river, and the down-pouring sheet, lighted by light 
 ning flashes, hides, as it approaches, first one and 
 then another of the verdure-clad islands until the 
 storm bursts with fury, as if to attack this strong 
 hold of Nature. What a battle of the elements! 
 And, after the storm, what beauty! The clouds pass 
 to the east; a vista is opened to the north, reaching 
 far over fields of corn so like those of the long ago. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 255 
 
 Beyond the hills are the prairies where for centuries 
 the buffalo grazed and were hunted for food, 
 raiment, and trade by the people of the valley. To 
 the north and west, upon the little eminence in the 
 direction of the modern town of Utica, one sees the 
 burial-places, now made more green by the thirst- 
 quenched grasses. What opportunities for contem 
 plation! Upon another little eminence, where a 
 farmhouse is seen, one may well suppose that there 
 the Illinois, when attacked by the Iroquois in 1680, 
 erected the temporary fort which they were treacher 
 ously led to abandon by pretensions of peace. To 
 the west and south in the valley we can place the 
 cabins of the Shawnees, the Algonquin tribe that 
 returned to the north not many years before, from a 
 sojourn in Florida. Upon the hill to the southeast 
 the marks of an ancient fortification are found, and 
 along the river bank a few mounds mark the resting- 
 places of an earlier people. Burned stones and 
 flint-chips only are left to show where labored the 
 living and lie the dead. The canoes, chiseled from 
 the great cottonwood trees that bordered the banks 
 then as now, are in dust; the erstwhile fields upon 
 the islands are now tended by alien hands. Beauti 
 ful full-clad trees border these cornfields which are 
 no greener nor better tended than those worked by 
 the dark daughters of the field and forest, when 
 America knew no white race; and when comes the 
 autumn these fields are no richer in the golden yield 
 that forms the greatest boon ever granted to a 
 usurping people, than those garnered by the red 
 man. Had we been susceptible another boon those 
 people might have left us a greater sense of virtue 
 
256 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 and honesty than we possess. But alas, to him we 
 taught the vices of civilization, but scoffed at him 
 as a teacher of virtues! 
 
 While we are standing upon this stronghold of 
 Nature the mind wanders, and the labors, hopes, and 
 fears of several generations are brought before us. 
 Around the border of this rock is still the heaped 
 earth that held the palisades placed by Tonty. On 
 the western crest the conformation of the surface 
 leads us to think that it was there La Salle planted 
 one of his little cannon, brought in bark canoes from 
 Montreal. Fragments of cinders show where stood 
 the blacksmith s forge, fed by coal found near by. 
 Flint chips strew the surface, and these indicate that 
 the artisan of the forge was not the only maker of 
 arms of the chase and weapons of war. Near the 
 middle of the summit is a leveled area where, no 
 doubt, stood the magazine in which stores for trade 
 and peltry received in trade were placed. Along 
 the palisades, to the south, seem to have been the 
 cabins where dwelt the officers and men who gar 
 risoned Fort St. Louis, which was practically the 
 headquarters of France in the fertile prairie-lands 
 of the west. Where stood the great out-reaching 
 poles, placed by Tonty to aid in drawing water from 
 the river, I have found no marks to determine; but 
 by the sides of the narrow stairway, at the south, 
 may still be seen one well-preserved niche, and 
 another less preserved, showing where rested the 
 timbers of the gangway by which part of the ascent 
 was made easy, and up and over which the timbers 
 cut for palisades were drawn. The tooth of time 
 has changed the form of the Rock, no doubt, by cut- 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 257 
 
 ting here and there. One may now step down 
 through a narrow cleft to a ledge, upon the north 
 side, and wend his way to the river. Starved Rock 
 has now two places of ascent. It matters little 
 whether this stronghold was accessible at these two 
 points when the tragedies were enacted, for each 
 ascent is easy of defense. Knowing the Rock well, 
 it would be quite possible for one to pass down the 
 crevice and along the ledge, in the darkness of 
 night, and reach the water. Tradition tells us of at 
 least one escape, probably by this way. 
 
 Starved Rock! Why so called? By the French 
 it was christened La Roche. We know not by what 
 poetic name the natives knew it. The story of 
 starvation, as told by tradition, prompted the writer 
 of the beautiful romance, to which I have referred, 
 to give the name by which we know it now. Be 
 that as it may, the mouldering bones, turned to the 
 sun by curiosity hunters, show us that there at least 
 was death, and the specter of hunger at once rises 
 before us. 
 
 Starved Rock! When we read Tonty s account, 
 what so stirs us at the sound of that name? 
 When gazing over this placid river, its waters gli 
 ding at the foot, the scene becomes animated; the 
 whole a battlefield where, two centuries ago, the 
 Illinois fought for life and the Iroquois for scalps 
 and slaves a scene of carnage and flight. In the 
 fields of corn I seem to see the Iroquois busy gather 
 ing a supply to serve them in their pursuit of the 
 fleeing Illinois; to see, not many leagues down the 
 river, on the little peninsula, the loved ones of 
 the warriors, anxious and watching, awaiting any turn 
 
258 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 of events that will permit escape from torture. I 
 seem to see the council where stood Tonty pleading 
 for peace between the invaders and the invaded; to 
 hear the Jroquois chief boasting that they will eat the 
 Illinois. There Tonty, in his anger, kicks away the 
 package of beaver skins intended to bribe him to 
 forsake the Illinois, and then I see the flashing eyes 
 of the chief who warns him to leave at once. 
 Tonty and his companions take heed and paddle 
 laboriously against the rapid current. The Illinois 
 have left their village to seek their women and chil 
 dren, and the Iroquois soon start in pursuit, on the 
 opposite side of the river. Day after day we trace 
 them; the followers hurry on to keep pace with the 
 followed, the river only between them. Sad indeed 
 the fate of the pursued! As they pass along the 
 river they disperse, the better to escape; but a por 
 tion are overtaken, and warriors, women, and chil 
 dren, are burned at the stake or led prisoners to the 
 homes of the Iroquois. Many charred bodies stand 
 ing tied to trees tell the sad, sad ending. 
 
 So calm that river! Who can tell where, in our 
 country, more blood was ever shed than flowed and 
 enriched the sod along its banks? 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 By 1728 patience had again ceased to be a virtue 
 with the French, and again they sought utterly to 
 annihilate the Foxes. The adventure of De 
 Lignerie is told us by the Recollet Father Emanuel 
 Crespel. (Smith s His. Wis., I., 339.) The father 
 recites that he was withdrawn from his curacy and 
 appointed confessor to a party of four hundred 
 Frenchmen which the Marquis de Beauharnois had 
 joined to eight or nine hundred savages, principally 
 Iroquois, partly of the Christian branch settled 
 among the French. We shall see how much influ 
 ence the gentle father had in softening the hearts of 
 the French and their allies. 
 
 The troops commanded by De Lignerie "were 
 commissioned to go and destroy a nation called the 
 Foxes." The journey was begun on the fifth of 
 June, 1728, by passing up the Ottawa river in birch- 
 bark canoes. Portage was made into Lake Nip- 
 pissing, and thence into Georgian Bay. While 
 passing up the Ottawa and the smaller rivers on 
 their way, as it was not possible for all to travel 
 together, the army was divided into small parties, 
 and the first to pass awaited the others at a place 
 called the Prairie, on the border of Lake Huron. 
 At the time of embarkation from that point, July 
 26, the father celebrated mass and, no doubt, offered 
 prayers for the interposition of Divine Providence 
 on behalf of the Frenchmen and, possibly, for favor- 
 
 259 
 
260 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 able winds. Be that as it may, the winds hurried 
 them on to such an extent that they reached Macki 
 naw, about two hundred and forty miles distant, in 
 six days, where the good father takes the pains to 
 tell us that he consecrated two flags. The army 
 soon departed and entered Lake Michigan, but was 
 there detained two days by the wind. Ill though 
 the winds were, they blew some good, for it gave 
 the hungry party an opportunity to take several 
 moose and elk. "The hunters were so polite," the 
 father adds, "as to offer to share with us. We 
 made some objections at first, but they compelled us 
 to accept their present, saying that, since we had 
 shared with them the fatigues of the journey, it was 
 right that they should share with us the comforts 
 which they had found, and that they should not con 
 sider themselves as men if they acted in a different 
 manner toward others." 
 
 The discourse, which one of the men translated 
 into French, affected the father very much, and he 
 cried: "What humanity in savages, and how many 
 men might be found in Europe to whom the title of 
 barbarian might much better be applied than to these 
 inhabitants of America! The generosity of our sav 
 ages merited the most lively gratitude on our part." 
 The army passed along down to Green Bay, and, 
 says the father: "The next day we crossed over to 
 the Folles Avoines* in order to invite [provoke] the 
 inhabitants to come and oppose our landing. They 
 fell into the trap and were entirely defeated." The 
 Christian father was indeed very much affected by 
 the kindness of the Indian huntsmen, but he does 
 
 * A harmless tribe on Green Bay. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 261 
 
 not tell us that the setting of a trap, into which 
 these poor people fell and hence were defeated, 
 excited any feeling of pity in his heart. "About 
 midday," he goes on to say, "on the i/th we were 
 ordered to halt until evening in order that we might 
 reach the post at The Bay during the night, as we 
 wished to surprise the enemy who we knew were 
 staying with their allies, the Sacs, whose village lies 
 near Fort St. Francis. At twilight [dusk] we com 
 menced our march, and about midnight we arrived 
 at the mouth of the Fox river, at which point our 
 fort is built. As soon as we had arrived there M. de 
 Lignerie sent some Frenchmen to the commandant 
 to ascertain if the enemy were really at the village 
 of the Sacs, and, having learned that we ought [were 
 likely] still to find them there, he caused all the 
 savages and a detachment of French troops to cross 
 over the river in order to surround the habitations, 
 and then ordered the rest of our troops to enter the 
 village. Notwithstanding the precautions that had 
 been taken to conceal our arrival, the savages had 
 received information of it, and all had escaped with 
 the exception of four. These were presented to our 
 savages, who, after having diverted themselves with 
 them, shot them to death with arrows." 
 
 Although the good father was not shocked at the 
 trap that was set, into which the Folles Avoines 
 fell and in which they were killed, yet his heart soft 
 ened later, for he continues: "I was much pained 
 to witness this terrible spectacle, and the pleasure 
 which our savages took in making these unfortunate 
 persons suffer, causing them to undergo the horror 
 of thirty deaths before depriving them of life, I 
 
262 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 could not make accord with the manner in which 
 they had appeared some days before. I would 
 willingly have asked them if they did not perceive, 
 as I did, this opposition of sentiment, and have 
 pointed out to them what I saw commendable in 
 their proceedings; but those of our party who 
 might have served as interpreters were on the other 
 side of the river, and I was obliged to postpone 
 until another time the satisfaction of my curiosity. 
 After this little coup de main we went up Fox 
 river, which is full of rapids and is about thirty- 
 five or forty leagues in length. The 24th of August 
 [1726] we arrived at the village of the Puants [Win- 
 nebagos], much disposed to destroy any inhabitant 
 that might be found there; but their flight had pre 
 ceded our arrival, and we had nothing to do but to 
 burn their wigwams and ravage their fields of Indian 
 corn, which is their principal article of food. We 
 afterward crossed over the little Fox lake, at the 
 end of which we camped; and the next day (day of 
 St. Louis), after mass, we entered a small river 
 which conducted us into a kind of swamp, on the 
 borders of which were situated the grand habitations 
 of those we were in search of. Their allies, the 
 Sacs, doubtless informed them of our approach, and 
 they did not deem it advisable to await our arrival, 
 for we found in their village only a few women, 
 whom our savages made their slaves, and an old 
 man, whom they burned to death at a slow fire with 
 out appearing to entertain the least repugnance 
 toward committing so barbarous an action." 
 
 Again the sentiments of the father seem to have 
 been somewhat mixed. Whether the burning was 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 263 
 
 repugnant to him (such as was practiced as a means 
 of conversions in some parts of Europe at that 
 time), or the burning of an old man because he was 
 an enemy, we are left to judge for ourselves. I am 
 led to believe that the father was very human, not 
 withstanding his assumed divine mission. Farther 
 on the father tells us: "This appeared to me a more 
 striking act of cruelty than that which had been 
 experienced toward the four savages found in the 
 village of the Sacs. I seized upon this occasion and 
 circumstance to satisfy my curiosity about that of 
 which I have just been speaking. There was in our 
 company a Frenchman who could speak the Iro- 
 quois language. I entreated him to tell the savages 
 that I was surprised to see them take so much pleas 
 ure in tormenting an unfortunate old man; that the 
 rights of war did not extend so far, and that an act 
 so barbarous appeared to me to be in direct opposi 
 tion to the principle which they had professed to 
 entertain toward all men. I was answered by an 
 Iroquois who, in order to justify his companions, 
 said that when they fell into the hands of the Foxes 
 and Sacs they were treated with still greater cruelty, 
 and that it was their custom to treat their enemies 
 in the same manner that they would be treated by 
 them if they were vanquished. I was about to give 
 him some further reasons when the orders were 
 given to advance upon the last stronghold of the 
 enemy. This post is situated upon the borders of a 
 small river which empties into another called the 
 Wisconsin, which latter discharges itself into the 
 Mississippi, about thirty leagues from there. We 
 found no person there, and as we had no orders to 
 
264 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 go any farther, we employed ourselves several days 
 in destroying the fields in order to deprive the 
 enemy of the means of subsisting there." 
 
 Beauharnois did not regard the march as useless. 
 "It is certain," he wrote September ist, 1728, to the 
 French minister of war, "that half of these nations, 
 who number four thousands souls, will die of hun 
 ger, and that they will come in and ask for mercy." 
 
 In a private letter he repeats his instructions to 
 De Lignerie in regard to the expedition. The let 
 ter states that De Lignerie made use of all his skill 
 in his efforts to succeed in the expedition, but found 
 it impossible to surprise the enemy, they having 
 knowledge of his march. Three Puants and a Fox, 
 who were discovered by some Sacs whom he had 
 brought from Mackinaw, were taken by him. These 
 four savages were bound and sent to the tribes, who 
 put them to death the next day. He afterward 
 continued his march, Beauharnois writes, at the 
 head of one thousand savages and four hundred and 
 fifty Frenchmen, to the village of the Puants, and 
 then to that of the Foxes, who had fled, some 
 escaping by swimming. In the four villages he 
 captured two women and a girl and a man, who 
 were killed and burned. The Foxes had left four 
 days before, taking the old men, women, and chil 
 dren in canoes. Marching by land the warriors kept 
 pace along the banks. De Lignerie urged his allies 
 to pursue the Foxes, but only a portion would con 
 sent, the others saying that the Foxes were too 
 much in the lead to be overtaken. The French had 
 nothing to eat but Indian corn, and having a march 
 of about four hundred leagues before them on their 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 265 
 
 return, by which the safety of the army was endan 
 gered, it was decided to burn the four Fox villages, 
 their forts, and their huts, and to destroy all that 
 they could find in their fields Indian corn, beans, 
 and pumpkins, of which they had a great abundance. 
 The French and allies did the same execution 
 among the Puants. 
 
 In returning, the French passed by a village of 
 Sacs. These savages told the Marquis, in a council 
 of the tribes, that they no longer wished to stay 
 with the French, for fear of the Foxes, and that they 
 were going to retire to the river St. Joseph. As 
 he could not reassure the Sacs, De Lignerie burned 
 the fort lest the Foxes or their allies should take 
 possession of it and thus fortify themselves and 
 make war upon the Folles Avoines, said, since their 
 defeat, to have become allies of the French. 
 
 The failure of De Lignerie was attributed to his 
 long stay at Mackinaw and to the fact that a Potta- 
 watomie, who had come from Green Bay with four 
 others, three of whom did not appear, was sent back 
 to his comrades by De Lignerie to say that he had 
 come to talk with the tribes there, and even with 
 the Foxes, who were two days distant. At this the 
 Pottawatomie warned the Foxes of all that he had 
 seen in the army, and they fled at once. The 
 French and allies wished to march upon them, but 
 De Lignerie would not hasten his departure. The 
 murmur was very general against him in the army, 
 and the savages in their speeches did not spare him. 
 
 De Lignerie had attempted to make peace with 
 the Foxes and other tribes in 1726, when it was 
 thought best to grant the request of Ouchata, the 
 
266 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 principal chief of the Foxes, to have a French offi 
 cer in the country to aid him in restraining his young 
 warriors from bad thoughts and actions. It was 
 believed better, however, that the commandant at 
 La Point, on Lake Superior, endeavor to withdraw 
 the Sioux from an alliance with the Foxes, which it 
 was thought might be done by presents, and lead 
 them to hope for a missionary and other French 
 men, as they had often desired. It was afterward 
 regretted that the same instructions were not given 
 to the officers commanding at Detroit and at the 
 river St. Joseph, in order that the neighboring 
 nations might be detached from the Foxes, and 
 that those officers, in case of war, might be able to 
 prevent the Foxes from seeking an asylum with the 
 Iroquois, or with any other nation where they might 
 secrete themselves. De Siette, who then com 
 manded in the Illinois country, had written De 
 Lignerie that the Foxes were afraid of treachery, 
 and that the surest mode of securing peace was to 
 exterminate them. 
 
 As we read all this (which will be found in Wis. 
 Hist. Col., III., 148), we are not surprised that the 
 Foxes were afraid of treachery. It seems as if it 
 had been recommended to allay their fears by mur 
 dering them a very effective remedy surely. De 
 Siette had made this proposition to the council- 
 general at New Orleans, and had expressed the 
 same opinion to the "directors of the Company of 
 the Indies." In this account we find that it was 
 held that such a course would be the best expedient, 
 but that nothing would be more dangerous or more 
 prejudicial to the colonies of Canada and Louisiana 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 267 
 
 than such an enterprise in case of failure. It was 
 thought that it would be necessary to effect a sur 
 prise and keep them shut up in a fort, as in the last 
 war (at Detroit, 1712), for in case of escape the 
 Foxes and Sioux or the lowas would return to 
 destroy all the upper country; and that the French 
 of both colonies would be unable to pass from post 
 to post except at the risk of robbery and murder. 
 It was recommended that De Siette should cause to 
 be restored to the Foxes, by the Illinois, whatever 
 prisoners that they had with them, and De Lignerie 
 made the Foxes promise to send back to the Illinois 
 their prisoners. It was recommended that the 
 example of the other commandants who, by burning 
 the Fox prisoners that fell into their hands, had 
 thought to intimidate the Foxes and cause them to 
 lay down their arms, be not followed, as that only 
 served to irritate that people and aroused their 
 strongest hatred against the French. 
 
 In the council of June 7, 1728, De Lignerie spoke 
 to the tribes there assembled, demanding that they 
 go next spring to Green Bay and labor to put an end 
 to the unjust war which these nations were waging 
 against the Illinois. The Foxes replied that "since 
 the Great King extended his hand to them to signify 
 that he pitied them, their children and women, the 
 speaker gave his word to use his efforts toward 
 peace, and although the young Fox warriors were 
 then at war, he expected to gain them over." 
 (Wis. Hist. Col., III., 152.) 
 
 The chiefs of the nations assembled were well dis 
 posed, and saw very clearly that there could be no 
 hope for them except in obedience to the king. 
 
268 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 While all this was going on, a party of Foxes 
 struck the Chippevvas who, being put on the defen 
 sive, killed one Fox and wounded three. They were 
 not contented, however, and would have got up a 
 party of warriors to attack the Foxes had they not 
 been prevented by presents, and hopes held out to 
 them that the Foxes would lay down the war-club. 
 Beauharnois wrote from Quebec, October I, of the 
 same year (1726), expressing great satisfaction that 
 peace had been effected with the Foxes. De Lign- 
 erie, he informs us, says that since the chiefs of 
 the Foxes and Sacs gave their word to no more war 
 against the Illinois, two small war-parties of young 
 men of the Fox nation had gone to avenge the death 
 of one of their relatives; that the greater part of 
 both parties, composed of ten men, had been 
 entirely defeated; that four of them had been killed 
 on the spot, four wounded and taken prisoners by 
 the Illinois, and that the two who escaped were 
 wounded. "If the Illinois are careful," he says, 
 "this affair will have no further bad results; they 
 have but to send the prisoners they have taken to 
 the Fox village with presents to cover their dead, 
 according to usage, by which means they will dis 
 arm the Foxes and prevent them from forming new 
 parties." (Wis. Hist. Col, III., 159.) 
 
The present and future. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 In the autumn of 1727 Beauharnois felt that he 
 foresaw the necessity of again making war upon the 
 Foxes, and he wrote to that effect to De Siette, com 
 mandant at the Illinois. A copy of a letter De 
 Siette had previously written was sent to Montreal 
 to be considered by the officers there assembled. 
 On August 24, 1727, Beauharnois informed De Siette 
 by letter that "not being able any longer to rely 
 upon the word of the Foxes given De Lignerie, 
 promising to remain at peace, and as, especially 
 since the death of their chiefs, war-parties are daily 
 being formed, he had determined to make war upon 
 them the coming year." 
 
 May 29, 1729, Father Guignas, who accompanied 
 the expedition to the Sioux, wrote to Beauharnois 
 that the expedition delayed departure some time 
 hoping to learn from Montreal what were the inten 
 tions as to overcoming the extreme difficulty usually 
 encountered when passing through the country of 
 the Foxes. Hearing nothing, the party departed 
 from Mackinaw, and reached Green Bay on the 8th 
 of August. They soon passed on and met some of 
 the chiefs of the Puants, who received them kindly 
 and feasted them. The expedition soon reached 
 the village of the Foxes, twenty-two leagues (about 
 fifty-two miles) from Green Bay. The father speaks 
 of these people as not being so formidable as 
 reported: 
 
 269 
 
270 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 "Early the next morning, the I5th of the month 
 of August, the convoy prepared to continue its route 
 with quite pleasant weather; but a storm coming on 
 in the afternoon, we arrived quite wet, still in the 
 rain, at the cabins of the Foxes, a nation so much 
 dreaded and really so little to be dreaded. From 
 all that we could see, it is composed of two hundred 
 men at most, but there is a perfect hive of children, 
 especially boys from ten to fourteen years old, well 
 made and formed. They are cabined on a little 
 eminence on the bank of a small river, that bears 
 their name, extremely tortuous or winding, so that 
 you are constantly boxing the compass. Yet it is 
 apparently quite wide, with a chain of hills on both 
 sides, but there is only one miserable little channel 
 amid this extent of apparent bed, which is a kind of 
 marsh full of rushes and wild rice of almost impen 
 etrable thickness. They have nothing but mere bark 
 cabins without any kind of palisade or other fortifi 
 cation. As soon as the French canoes touched their 
 shore, they ran down with their peace calumets 
 lighted in spite of the rain, and all smoked. 
 
 "We staid among them the rest of this day and 
 all the next, to know what were their designs and 
 ideas as to the French post among the Sioux. The 
 Sieur Reaume, interpreter of Indian languages at 
 The Bay, acted efficiently there and with devotion to 
 the king s service. Even if my testimony, sir, 
 should be deemed not impartial, I must have the 
 honor to tell you that Rev. Father Chardon, an old 
 missionary, was of very great assistance there, and 
 the presence of three missionaries who were there, 
 reassured these cut-throats and assassins of the 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 271 
 
 French more than all the speeches of the best 
 orators could have done. A general council was 
 convened in one of the cabins; they were addressed 
 in decent and friendly terms, and they replied in the 
 same way. A small present was made to them. On 
 their side they gave some quite handsome dishes 
 lined with dry meat." 
 
 Referring to the establishment of the French 
 among the Sioux, Beauharnois, in a letter to the 
 minister of the colonies, wrote in substance: "The 
 interest of religion and of the colonies is involved 
 in the maintenance of this establishment, which has 
 been the more necessary, as there is no doubt but 
 that the Foxes, when routed, would have found an 
 asylum among the Sioux had not the French been 
 sent there. The docility and submissiveness mani 
 fested by the Foxes cannot be attributed to any 
 cause except the good-will entertained by the Sioux 
 for the French and the offers which the former made 
 the latter, of which the Foxes were fully cognizant. 
 It would be necessary to retain the Sioux in their 
 favorable disposition in order to keep the Foxes 
 respectful and defeat the measures they might adopt 
 to gain over the Sioux, who will always reject their 
 propositions so long as the French will remain in 
 their country and their trading post there continue. 
 The Foxes will, in all probability, come next year 
 to sue for peace; therefore, if it be granted to them 
 on advantageous conditions, there need be no appre 
 hension when going to the Sioux; and another com 
 pany could be formed, less numerous than the first, 
 with whom one would make a new treaty, or make 
 It with some responsible merchants able to afford 
 
272 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 the outfitting, whereby these difficulties would be 
 soon obviated." (Affluents of the Mississippi, p. 459.) 
 
 We now come to the most interesting series of 
 events in the history of the Foxes. There are many 
 traditions, military reports, and references made by 
 parties having had knowledge of important events, 
 but as every one interested reported matters as they 
 appeared from his point of view, there is no exact 
 agreement. 
 
 Historians do agree, however, that in 1730 a large 
 part of the Fox tribe was annihilated; but where the 
 defeat took place has been lost to history. David 
 son says: "The worst event of the war occurred near 
 Rock St. Louis on the Illinois river." (Unnamed 
 Wisconsin, p. 22.) Hebbard tells of the affair, but 
 gives no opinion as to where it took place. (Wis 
 consin under the Dominion of France.} Parkman says: 
 "The accounts of the affair are obscure and not very 
 trustworthy. It seems that the Outagamies [Foxes] 
 began the affray by an attack on the Illinois at La 
 Salle s old station Le Rocher, on the river Illinois." 
 (Half Century of Conflict. ) 
 
 The physical geography of the region about 
 Starved Rock enables me to determine absolutely 
 that Parkman s guess is wrong, and further geo 
 graphical and historical knowledge enables me to say 
 where the persecuted tribe met its greatest and last 
 defeat. The earliest definite account of the struggle 
 is found in the report of Beauharnois, dated May 6, 
 1730. In his reports we read of an encounter of a 
 party of warriors from several tribes with eighty 
 Foxes. Various events of about that time are also 
 mentioned. (Wis. Hist. Col., VIII., 245.) 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 273 
 
 Perriere Marin was a native of France, who estab 
 lished a place of deposit, called Fort Marin, on the 
 Mississippi, a short distance from the mouth of the 
 Wisconsin river, near what is now Wyalusing, and 
 also another near Mackinaw. Between these two 
 points Marin conducted an extensive traffic over the 
 route formed by the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. He 
 was obliged to curry favor with the Foxes who lived 
 along the banks of the river of that name, at or near 
 Little Butte des Morts, and to submit to the exac 
 tions of these people, in the form of tribute. The 
 acts of the Foxes were very much like those of the 
 buccaneers of the West Indies, or, we may say, of 
 modern nations that exact duties on goods entering 
 their country; and hence we cannot say that the 
 Foxes were much worse than the people of the civil 
 ized nations. Be that as it may, these repeated 
 piratical acts, as Marin considered them, determined 
 him to drive the Foxes from their position. Tradi 
 tion and vague accounts of his eventful expedition 
 leave some doubt as to the exact date of his first 
 attack, but it was probably as early as the year 1730. 
 He raised a considerable force at Mackinaw, which 
 was increased by friendly Indians of Green Bay. 
 They embarked, each boat having a full complement 
 of men, well armed and concealed by tarpaulins 
 large enough to cover the whole boat, such as were 
 generally used to protect goods from the weather. 
 Near the rapids, about three miles below but not 
 within view of the Little Butte des Morts, the party 
 divided, one portion going by land to the rear of 
 the village to support the attack which was to be 
 made by the other party in the front from the boats. 
 
274 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 The men in the boats, with their guns ready for use, 
 were concealed by the covers, except two men at 
 the oars. The Foxes discovered the approach of 
 the trader s fleet, as they supposed it to be, and 
 placed out their torch and posted themselves along 
 the bank and awaited the landing of the boats and 
 the payment of the customary exaction. When 
 near enough for an effective attack, the tarpaulins 
 were thrown off and a volley of musketry and two 
 swivel-guns, loaded with grape and canister, was fired 
 by the soldiers, which scattered death among the 
 unsuspecting savages. The living fled to their fort to 
 prepare for defense, and were pursued by the troops. 
 A Menominee warrior had stealthily entered the vil 
 lage and set fire to the large bark dwellings on the 
 windward side, and they were soon consumed by 
 the flames. The Foxes in despair sought safety in 
 flight, but were met by the party which had inter 
 cepted their retreat, and they found themselves 
 between two fires. Bullet and tomahawk soon 
 began their work, and the scalping-knife reaped a 
 rich harvest. 
 
 "The time occupied by the bloody tragedy was 
 not long," says Hon. Moses Strong, from whose 
 papers I have chosen to cull these facts, "but in 
 strategy, surprise, and sanguinary execution it 
 probably has no parallel in the annals of Indian 
 warfare. Most of the Foxes were killed or taken 
 prisoners, but a few escaped up the river, and others 
 were absent at the time of the engagement." 
 
 Whether Marin was warranted in such "strategy" 
 or not, I shall not say, but do not hesitate to state 
 that I know of no greater display of savagery on the 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 275 
 
 part of the red savages than the attack by the white 
 savages upon these people, who for years had been 
 paid tribute and were merely waiting on the shore 
 for the customary distribution of gewgaws. It may 
 have been this barbarous attack of Marin that 
 formed the final incentive to the flight toward the 
 Iroquois which ended in the massacre at the site of 
 the ancient Miami town of Maramech. 
 
 Some time early in 1730 the Foxes sent two stone 
 axes to the young warriors of the Seneca branch of 
 the Iroquois, who gave them to the Sachems, and 
 the latter, in turn, to the Governor of Canada. 
 This was the initial move in the last great tragedy. 
 By this present the Foxes requested that they 
 might come and live near the Senecas and join them 
 in their campaigns. The Senecas were warned by 
 the French not to accept the proposition of the 
 Foxes. That the Six Nations* (the Iroquois) were 
 altogether too strong, the French had been forced to 
 believe; but the English, it is evident, favored the 
 move, and had often recommended the same or sim 
 ilar plans to the Senecas. 
 
 The Governors of New France had several times 
 been ordered to annihilate the Fox tribe, and it 
 became their purpose to make more strenuous efforts 
 than ever before. Saint Ange was in command at 
 Fort Chartres, on the Mississippi river, near what 
 was then the new Kaskaskia. It was a French set 
 tlement, and to it the Illinois tribes had come and 
 brought with them the name of the erstwhile great 
 Illinois town, near Starved Rock, which they had 
 
 * After defeating and absorbing the Tuscaroras the Iroquois 
 were known as the Six Nations. 
 
276 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 been forced to abandon years before. The Illinois 
 held themselves in readiness for revenge on the 
 Foxes and seemed willing to proceed with Saint 
 Ange, but when others were ready they held back 
 for some unknown reason. The French jeered them, 
 declaring that they were only women and conse 
 quently did not know how to fight. Slavery was 
 then one of the barbarous institutions at Kaskaskia, 
 Cahokia, and other towns adjoining Fort Chartres; 
 and the Frenchmen declared to the Illinois that 
 they would take their negro slaves and join the 
 other savages and defeat the Foxes. We know not 
 what orders were given Saint Ange except that he 
 should direct his march toward the Rock. We 
 are not told whether he passed up the Mississippi 
 and Illinois rivers and then the "river of the Rock," 
 and struck northeast across the great prairies. We 
 read from the reports, however, that the last two 
 days march was under cover of the woods. This 
 leads us to believe that the march was mainly across 
 great prairies. 
 
 The summer was nearing its end; the lilies were 
 giving way to the goldenrod and to the multitude 
 of autumn daisies that bordered the trails. The 
 grown broods of quail whirred from the tall grass, 
 but they little woke the instincts of the sportsman, 
 for small game was of little account as food for an 
 army; but the deer and wild turkeys fared less well. 
 Food, while on the march, was abundant, but the 
 way was long. 
 
 To a great extent the valley of the Riviere du 
 Rocher, now the beautiful Fox river, had become 
 No Man s Land, because of the long-standing wars 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 277 
 
 between the Illinois on one side and the Foxes, 
 Kickapoos, and allies on the other, who seemed bent 
 on driving that people from northern Illinois, a 
 region that thirty years before was one of the best 
 known of the west. (See maps ante pp. 23, 28 
 and 30.) It had practically been lost sight of. 
 This was true to such an extent in 1730 that Per- 
 rier, the Governor of Louisiana, wrote of it as "a 
 country up to this time unknown to the French, 
 and even to our allied savages, of whom none 
 could serve us as guides." Louisiana then ex 
 tended from the mouth of the Mississippi river to 
 the headwaters of every tributary, and hence the 
 Riviere du Rocher was within Perrier s jurisdiction. 
 Although its name has been twice changed, the 
 Pestekouy still flows through smiling prairies where 
 the herds that gave it name so long grazed, but how 
 changed! 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 In July, 1730, the Illinois of the village of Kas- 
 kaskia had learned that the Foxes, a short time 
 previously, had taken some prisoners from among 
 them and had burned the son of the great Illinois 
 chief "near the Rock" which, as Ferland puts it, is 
 upon the Illinois river. This and other news led 
 Saint Ange to move. On the loth day of August, 
 after overtaking the three or four hundred savages 
 who had passed on several days before, the army 
 found itself about five hundred strong. The Kicka- 
 poos and Mascoutins and the "Illinois of the Rock" 
 had taken possession of the passage to the northeast 
 in order to head off the Foxes, which they succeeded 
 in doing; and the latter proceeded to fortify them 
 selves. 
 
 Near the western border of Section 24 of the town 
 of Little Rock, Kendall county, is what may be 
 considered a freak of nature. It is a pond of con 
 siderable depth, about an acre in extent, with its 
 surface twenty feet below the level of the prairie, 
 and surrounded by trees. No stream enters it, nor 
 does one flow from it. The pond is well adapted 
 for defense. It is a fraction over two miles from 
 the site of the old Fox fort on Maramech Hill, 
 which leads me to believe that this was the place 
 where the Mascoutins and Kickapoos awaited the 
 arrival of the French, for it corresponds surprisingly 
 closely to the distance at which the warriors of these 
 
 279 
 
2 8o LOST MARAMECH 
 
 tribes were located, to the northeast of the Foxes, 
 which was said to be one league.* Defense was 
 easy because then, as now, the pond was sur 
 rounded by a narrow belt of trees, and hence log- 
 built breastworks and enclosures were of easy 
 construction. This pond is a study in physical 
 geography and, because of its being somewhat a 
 freak of nature, it may have been considered a 
 special providence by the superstitious savages. 
 A pool by the wayside, it quenched the thirst; its 
 surrounding shades offered to fatigued warriors a 
 resting-place from the trail. All blessings were 
 credited by the natives to some of the many Mani- 
 tous. To what one of them may the finely wrought 
 ornamental stones found on the shore of the pond 
 have been offered as sacrifices? The lakelet may 
 have been considered as sacred and have received 
 the worship of the savage^, as in the ancient Scandi 
 navian countries the wealth of the individual was 
 often sacrificed by casting it into the waters of a 
 sacred spring. So may it not have been that our 
 natives considered this oasis in the far-reaching 
 prairies, with its pool and shades, as a special crea 
 tion for them? Game was usually abundant, and it 
 is probable that fish could there be caught, then as 
 now. Because of the natural advantages and the 
 exact distance and direction from the fort of the 
 Foxes, I place the watching Kickapoos there. 
 
 Saint Ange, when approaching, was informed of 
 the nearness of the enemy, on the I2th of August, 
 by one of the scouts who also gave information as 
 
 * A French land league at that time was equal to 2.42 Eng 
 lish miles. 
 
*F \. 
 
 ESCAPfJ SCPT. 9- 
 
 ^f*0 of HlU- 
 
 Lettering the massive boulder. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 281 
 
 to the location of the fort. This scout stated 
 that he had counted there one hundred and eleven 
 cabins. The advancing army was then but three 
 days distant, and on the I7th, at break of day, the 
 enemy was sighted. A party of forty hunters was 
 forced to return to the fort. Saint Ange s army 
 cautiously made its way over trails that led north 
 eastwardly across the prairies, south of the Illinois 
 river, and finally followed the open timber that 
 skirted the bluffs of the Riviere du Rocher (Fox 
 river). When he reached the great bend, along 
 which the bark and rush cabins of Maramech had 
 formerly stood, he was in position to look to the 
 northwest, across the river and across the bottom 
 lands where had once been the cornfields of the 
 Miamis. He could look up the slope (to the west and 
 northwest), that forms the amphitheater now studded 
 with a second growth of hickory and oak. Upon 
 this amphitheater were the one hundred and eleven 
 temporary shelters of the Foxes spoken of by the 
 scout. Other French troops were moving else 
 where. 
 
 Early in 1730 two Mascoutins had come to the 
 river St. Joseph where M. de Villiers commanded, 
 and reported that the Foxes were fighting with the 
 Illinois between the Rock and the Ouiatonons 
 (Weas, a branch of the Miamis, on the Wabash), 
 and that the Puants, Mascoutins, and Kickapoos 
 had joined the Illinois and attacked the Foxes, but 
 that the Illinois had fled. In that attack six Puants 
 were wounded and one killed. There were also two 
 Kickapoos of the river St. Joseph killed. This news 
 had the effect of awakening the French to the fact 
 
282 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 that the Foxes were endeavoring to pass from their 
 village in the Wisconsin region to the Iroquois, who 
 for several years had been attempting to induce 
 them to make this move. The commandant at St. 
 Joseph put himself immediately in readiness to 
 march against the Foxes, and at once sent word to 
 Detroit, giving notice of what had taken place and 
 of the fact that he would proceed immediately. 
 Some of the Puants at Detroit and the Ottawas 
 determined to take up the hatchet against the 
 Foxes, but were deterred from so doing by the fact 
 that a large number of their warriors were absent. 
 The Foxes, when opposed by the Kickapoos and 
 others, said that they were expecting a large party 
 of Iroquois to come to their assistance. This was 
 no doubt said in order to frighten the French, and 
 allies in turn, to do which seemed to require little 
 more than to cry "Iroquois!" It was known, as 
 already stated, that the English had been working 
 to that end and had sought to influence the Foxes 
 by sending them presents by the hands of the Iro 
 quois. It was on the 6th of August, 1730, that M. 
 de Villiers, commandant at the St. Joseph river, 
 learned of the move the Foxes were making, and at 
 once gave the information to M. de Noyelles, com 
 mandant at the Miamis. De Villiers made hasty 
 preparations and started on the loth of August, at 
 the head of three hundred French and allies, to 
 march against the Foxes. Upon his arrival he found 
 that Saint Ange had preceded him with one hundred 
 Frenchmen and four hundred savages. He took a 
 position on the right, to the northwest of the fort 
 the Foxes had hastily constructed, and there located 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 283 
 
 his little battery upon the hill across the swamp, 
 which in itself protected it, where a stone has been 
 placed. De Noyelles soon joined them, when the 
 force aggregated about thirteen hundred men, all 
 bent on the annihilation of the Foxes. 
 
 The details of this affair are given in the various 
 fragmentary military reports. They were digested 
 and entered in books of record at Paris, many writ 
 ten by the same hand. It seems evident that the 
 compiler omitted much and, because of lack of 
 geographical knowledge of the region, erred [in his 
 interpretation of the meaning of the writers. So 
 far as I have been able to learn, Ferland is the only 
 historian who availed himself of such of the Parisian 
 records as deal with this great tragedy. He prob 
 ably had before him the account found in Cor 
 respondence General, 1732, Vol. LVIL, p. 316. The 
 following is a translation from the French of his 
 account. (Histoire du Canada, II., 436.)* 
 
 * In the account from which Ferland made this narration 
 there is some confusion ; and no distinction is made between 
 "the Rock," which is on the Illinois river and "the Rock" 
 which characterizes the stream first known to the French as 
 the Pestecouy and later by them called "Riviere du Rocher," 
 which discharges into the Illinois river, several miles above 
 the site of old Fort St. Louis. This confusion is in part 
 explained by the fact that the geography of the country was 
 little known to the commanders directing the movement, and 
 to the writers of the military reports (see letter of March 25, 
 1731, appendix). The Rock on which Fort St. Louis had 
 been was well known, for it was on two direct routes between 
 Louisiana and Canada ; many of the soldiers of the little army 
 had, no doubt, often passed up and down the Illinois river. 
 The "Riviere du Rocher" was off the main line of canoe- 
 travel, but was familiar to most of the traders. 
 
284 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 "In the month of October, 1728, a party of Kicka- 
 poos and Mascoutins made prisoners, on the Missis 
 sippi, of seventeen Frenchmen who were descending 
 [the Mississippi] from Fort Beauharnois [on Lake 
 Pipin] to the Illinois country. The savages deliber 
 ated at first whether they would burn their captives 
 or deliver them to the Foxes, who were demanding 
 them. In the meantime Father Guignas, who was 
 among the prisoners, so gained their confidence that 
 he succeeded in detaching them from the Foxes, 
 and induced them to ask the French for peace. 
 
 "After five months of captivity, he descended to 
 Fort Chartres with ,a few Kickapoos and Mascoutin 
 chiefs, at which place Saint Ange was in command. 
 Peace was concluded^ according to their wishes and 
 the prisoners were given their liberty. 
 
 "Enfeebled and disconcerted by this arrangement, 
 the Foxes contemplated taking refuge among the 
 
 Ferland, in his account, does not follow the original 
 manuscript very closely, as may be gathered by reference to 
 his Histoire du Canada, II., p. 437. The original reads: "Les 
 Quikapous, Maskoutins et Illinois du Rocher s estaient 
 rendus maitre des parrages du cost& du nord est et fut 
 vraisemblement ce qui contraignet les renards de faire un 
 fort au rocher a une lieue audessous d^eux pour se mettrc 
 a convert de leurs insults" Put in plain English, the above 
 might well read: "The Kickapous, Mascoutins and Illinois of 
 the Rock had taken possession of the region to the northeast 
 of the Foxes, and it was probably that which constrained the 
 Foxes to build a fort at (near) the Rock, a league below them 
 (the Mascoutins, Kickapous and Illinois of the Rock)." Fer- 
 land s mistake was in putting the Foxes a league r from the 
 Rock instead of a league from the enemy that held the places 
 to the northeast. It is true, however, that the old Fox fort is 
 nearly an old French land league from the Rock. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 285 
 
 Iroquois, friends of the English, by passing by the 
 village of the Ouiatonons [Weas], a branch of the 
 Miamis living on the Wabash river, friendly to 
 them. 
 
 "But the Kickapoos and the Mascoutins pene 
 trated their schemes and gave information, at all of 
 the posts, to the French of Louisiana and Canada. 
 In the meantime the Illinois of the village of Kao- 
 kias, in the month of May, 1730, gave information 
 that the Foxes had taken some prisoners near the 
 Rock, upon the river of the Illinois. This report 
 induced Saint Ange to take the field; four hundred 
 savages joined a hundred Frenchmen whom he had 
 assembled. This little army directed itself toward 
 the Rock, at a league from which the Foxes had 
 stopped and had just finished building a fort. They 
 had not been able to continue their journey toward 
 the country of the Iroquois, for the Kickapoos and 
 Mascoutins and the Illinois of the Rock were mas 
 ters of the places to the northeast. 
 
 "On the I7th of August Saint Ange arrived in 
 sight of the enemy; after having driven back into 
 the fort a party of hunters, he reconnoitered the 
 place where they were lodged. It was a little grove 
 enclosed with palisades, situated on a gentle slope 
 which rose toward the west and the northwest, 
 along a little river; their retreats were made in the 
 ground like the den of the Fox, of which they bear 
 the name. 
 
 "At the sound of the first gunshot fired by the 
 French, the Kickapoos, Mascoutins, and the Illi 
 nois, who, for a month, had been expecting aid, ran 
 up to the number of two hundred men. 
 
286 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 "Thus reenforced, Saint Ange divided his forces 
 in such a way [as to hem in the Foxes, who had 
 undertaken several ineffectual sorties. It was 
 necessary to entrench, and each one worked to 
 fortify himself in the post that had been assigned 
 to him. On the igth the enemy demanded to par 
 ley; they offered to deliver the slaves that they had 
 before" taken on the Illinois river, and did deliver 
 some; but as they sought only to procrastinate, 
 Saint Ange renewed the attack on the morrow. 
 During the days following he was joined by fifty 
 or sixty Frenchmen and five hundred savages, Pot- 
 tawatomies and Sacs, which M. de Villiers, com 
 mandant of the river Saint Joseph, had brought. 
 
 "M. de Noyelles arrived from the other direc 
 tion, with two hundred Miamis and ten Frenchmen. 
 The Foxes defended themselves bravely and ably. 
 By means of presents they sought to gain some of 
 their ancient allies; the Sacs treated underhanded 
 with them, furnished them some ammunition and 
 took measures to favor their escape. The other 
 savages perceived the movements of the Sacs, and 
 were on the point of attacking them when Saint 
 Ange advanced, at the head of a hundred French 
 men, between the two parties, to establish order. 
 The siege lasted longer than they had foreseen; 
 famine reigned, not only with the Foxes, but also 
 with the French and their allies. Reduced to eat 
 their quivers, a part of the allies became discour 
 aged; two hundred Illinois deserted on the 7th of 
 September. Fortunately, this bad example was 
 not followed by others. The Foxes were pressed 
 more and more; Saint Ange had a fort constructed 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 287 
 
 which prevented them from going to the river for 
 water. All expressed themselves that the time of 
 surrender was near. But the 8th of September a 
 violent storm, accompanied with thunder and tor 
 rents of rain, interrupted the efforts of the French. 
 This day was followed by a rainy night, dark and 
 cold; the Foxes profited by it and attempted to 
 escape from their fort. 
 
 "The cries of the children betrayed them, and it 
 was believed that they were escaping. In the dark 
 ness that reigned it was impossible to distinguish 
 friends from the enemy, and the entire night was 
 passed in this uncertainty. Nevertheless, the 
 French and their allies remained under arms, and 
 at daylight of the gth the freshest and most vigorous 
 started in pursuit of the Foxes, who could not 
 advance rapidly because of their embarrassments. 
 
 "The women, the children, and the old men 
 marched at the head; the warriors were placed last 
 to protect the retreat. In an instant their ranks 
 were broken, and they fled pell-mell; more than 
 three hundred of their warriors were killed or taken 
 prisoners; a considerable number of women and 
 children perished in the fight, pursued by the Illi 
 nois of the Rock, the Mascoutins and Kickapoos. 
 Fifty or sixty warriors alone escaped; but under 
 different pretexts the Ouitanons and the Sacs had 
 succeeded in helping many of the women and chil 
 dren to also escape the massacre of their nation. 
 
 "The Foxes had lost many people; seventy cabins 
 had been destroyed; the nation, it was said, no 
 longer possessed more than thirty cabins (families); 
 only a few women and a small number of children 
 
288 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 remained. Some years before the Foxes prided 
 themselves on the number of children they pos 
 sessed who promised a brilliant future."* 
 
 Regarding the defeat of the Foxes, M. de Beau- 
 harnois wrote to M. de Maurepas on the i8th of 
 May, 1731: "Behold a nation humbled to the extent 
 that it will no longer trouble the earth." 
 
 THE SIEGE 
 
 Turn loose the wings of the imagination; let it fly 
 back one hundred and seventy years while we place 
 ourselves upon the summit, at the northeast end of 
 what is now known as Maramech Hill. There must 
 have stood during the beautiful Indian summer days 
 of 1730 a watchful warrior. With hand shading his 
 eyes, he peers far over the "Little River" and over 
 the valley toward the rising sun. He is higher than 
 the reddening maple trees in the valley. With him, 
 on this promontory, are other braves; they are the 
 "watchmen of the tower." They watch not so much 
 for the immediate approach of the expected enemies 
 as for expected signal fires on the prairies, to the 
 northeast watch for prairie fires that, by prearrange- 
 ment, are to be lit by those chosen to do double 
 duty, not only to act as pickets and give warning, 
 but to hunt supplies of food. 
 
 How strange it seems to us now, sitting in com 
 fort amid plenty, to read that hunger at any time 
 was felt here! In and along the streams where the 
 sportsman now finds game in abundance, and tells 
 big fish stories, was little food supply found in those 
 
 *For the original documents and translation thereof see 
 Appendix. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 289 
 
 autumn days, for the hunters dared not wander far. 
 Three hundred warriors, with their women and chil 
 dren, probably more than a thousand in number, we 
 seem to see here concentrated, who, unwilling to 
 separate because of the watchful Mascoutins and 
 Kickapoos and of the nearness of the French and 
 allies, find subsistence hard to procure. From the 
 hills to the north and over the prairies game has 
 been frightened into receding farther than the hunt 
 ers dare go, for no one knows when the blow may 
 fall; they know not when they will be startled by 
 the war-cry of the Mascoutins, Kickapoos, and Illi 
 nois, joined by the expected reinforcements from 
 whose well-earned rage they fled. Their stock of 
 dried meat, fish, parched corn and maple sugar is 
 exhausted. 
 
 The women and children are as hungry as the 
 dogs which dispute with them every morsel, and 
 which, in turn, are soon to be eaten. Upon the 
 crest of the hill, along the eastern side, are other 
 watchmen; upon the bluffs and farther on, as far as 
 the prairies that stretch away to the west, are others 
 still. The lesser creek, from which they get 
 their water by a covered way since having been 
 driven into the stockade upon the hill, comes from 
 the northwest to within a mile and then turns to the 
 east, then sharply to the north and touches the hill. 
 It then passes to the east along the hillside. After 
 forming a channel like a letter S, it mingles its 
 waters with those of the larger creek the "Little 
 River" of the French accounts. Eyes are fixed 
 across the lesser creek, to the west and to the south; 
 they watch for pillars of smoke by day and for the 
 
2QO LOST MARAMECH 
 
 light of signal fires by night. On this great prairie, 
 stretching across the river and also to the west, the 
 hunters are particularly watchful; and more so 
 toward the southwest, for Saint Ange is known to 
 be on the march against them, from Fort Chartres, 
 on the Mississippi, with his Illinois allies.* 
 
 The prairie fires are expected to warn of his 
 approach. As the heliograph serves in modern war 
 fare, so do signal fires with our native races. The 
 prisoners taken, somewhere on or near the Illinois 
 river and held by the Foxes, cast longing eyes in 
 the direction of the expected army that is coming 
 from so near the town of Kaskaskia, their last home. 
 Theirs with other of the Illinois tribes were driven 
 from this section, their old home, by the Foxes, 
 who now hold it. The captives share the hunger of 
 their captors. 
 
 Far down the lovely Riviere du Rocher fisher 
 men are also performing the double task of supply 
 ing food, as best they can, and doing picket duty. 
 We know how Saint Ange is making his approach. 
 The last two days his army has moved under cover 
 
 * A manuscript map of 1818, in the Congressional Library at 
 Washington, shows a road running north from Kaskaskia to 
 Edwardsville, thence to Springfield, thence to Peoria Lake, and 
 thence to the Illinois River, crossing it just below the mouth of 
 the Des Plaines ; thence it follows the west shore of the river 
 Des Plaines, crossing it at the site of the present city of River 
 side. The road crosses the Vermilion about twelve miles from 
 Starved Rock. 
 
 As was usually true, the road was probably an old trail, and 
 it seems likely that Saint Ange took that course. He followed 
 the trail that led from Ottawa to Chicagou, but turned at the 
 river timber and passed up to the fort of the Foxes. 
 
Frame of Fox wigwam, Tama Reservation. 
 
 Fox Wigwam, Tama Reservation. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 291 
 
 of the woods, along the bluffs that border the 
 Riviere du Rocher on the east. 
 
 The Foxes have made enemies of the greater part 
 of the Miami tribes, and from the east they fear 
 the approach of these people of the St. Joseph 
 region. Far to the southeast, on the banks of the 
 Wabash river, are the Ouitanons (Weas), the only 
 Miamis the Foxes can call brothers. To these 
 their course has been directed; the village that they 
 hope may serve them as an asylum, if only for a 
 time, is not far from a direct route to the Iroquois 
 nation of New York, where they hope that their 
 troubles may cease. 
 
 The Foxes have made themselves so odious to 
 their neighbors as to be compelled to leave the 
 region of their old home on the Wisconsin and the 
 Fox river that heads near by. How they came this 
 far we are not told, but we know that the Kishwau- 
 kee trail is the shortest route. Horses were brought 
 a part of the way from New Spain by the remnants 
 of La Salle s ill-fated party, but we may safely say 
 that the pursued had none and, laden with their all, 
 they dragged themselves along the deeply worn 
 trail that climbs the northeastern end of this fatal 
 hill. Having reached this place, they sought rest 
 on the slope "rising toward the west and north 
 west," along the "Little River." They halted and 
 constructed defenses. They levelled places and 
 erected one hundred and eleven rush-mat shelters. 
 
 The hill seeming to them to be a strategic point ? 
 they built this stockade. The women shared the 
 labor; they chopped and they dug. This ditch and 
 palisade form a half-circle that is completed by the 
 
2 9 2 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 very steep bluff at the south end of the hill which, 
 with the log-protected rifle-pits, is a defense in 
 itself. Upon the embankment a palisade of poles, 
 cut from the crest of the hill, is planted. Into this 
 enclosure a large part of the three hundred warriors 
 and many times more women and children are 
 crowded. The beautiful landscape to the south has 
 no charms for them; landscapes, ever so beautiful, 
 neither quiet fears nor satisfy hunger. 
 
 The Kickapoos are the first of the enemy to 
 approach, but for a time they keep somewhat 
 aloof, for their number is not great. Before the 
 approach of the others, the Foxes little feared 
 them. Watchfulness however, has become more 
 necessary because of their nearness. The fatal hour 
 is approaching. Far to the south the night sky is 
 faintly lighted. Is it the expected signal or an acci 
 dental prairie fire run wild from some hunter s 
 camp? The anxiety, already great, becomes 
 intense. Breathless hunters report the approach of 
 the enemy. The French and their allies, in turn, 
 are watchful and cautious, so amidst uncertainties 
 they are. 
 
 Saint Ange, in starting, had directed his little 
 army toward the Rock, but whether the erst 
 while Fort St. Louis, as guessed by some, or the 
 Rock that gave this, the Riviere du Rocher, its 
 second name, he was not informed; the course was 
 uncertain, and he groped his way. He now has 
 reason to believe that he is nearing his prey; he 
 encounters forty of the Fox hunters. Finding 
 them, and fearing to be led into ambush, he moves 
 with greater caution still, and follows their retreat 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 293 
 
 with care. Now all the pickets have been driven 
 in, and all the women, children, and old men 
 brought from the slope along the "Little River" to 
 the stockade where the trees afford their only shel 
 ter from the sun and storm. The stockade is crowded 
 and food scarce, but as a covered passageway leads 
 to the foot of the hill, where the smaller stream 
 bathes it, water is abundant. The Fox braves still 
 lie in shallow trenches they have dug along the crest 
 of the hill to command the slopes. 
 
 The French and their allies quickly take positions 
 upon the bluffs surrounding this island-like hill. To 
 the north, a good rifle-shot away, a part of the army 
 is posted; across this valley, between this and the 
 hill of the besieged, no successful sortie can be 
 made a few of the Fox riflemen can easily com 
 mand the valley and steep hillsides. 
 
De VIl .eL- s Cavalier" (little fort), for protecting his advance across 
 the swamp and up Maramech Hill. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 Standing on this isolated hill, fortified, and with 
 a swamp and the creeks surrounding it, it seems 
 invulnerable, unless attacked by a large force. A 
 valley, densely grown with trees, bounds its steep 
 sides. An eighth of a mile from the crest, and 
 parallel with it, across the narrow valley, are bluffs 
 that rise gradually and recede to the open prairie a 
 little to the north. They are steep only in places, 
 and there a body of French soldiers have taken 
 position with a light field-piece. The hill occupied 
 by the Foxes is long and narrow at its summit a 
 mere ridge the greater part of its length. From 
 the works at the south end it extends northward a 
 distance, and then turns to the northeast, finally 
 increasing in height. The abrupt sides are easily 
 defended, but not so with the side that "rises with 
 a gentle slope to the west and northwest from the 
 Little River." To defend this slope is imperative, 
 for once driven to the summit, the three hundred 
 warriors must necessarily extend the whole length 
 of the hill, in a single line, a fourth of a mile in 
 length, that can be easily broken by the attacks from 
 front and rear. Between two fires such a line, held 
 by much less than three hundred men, is at the 
 mercy of the attacking army. 
 
 Strategy demands that the foot of the hill, where 
 it rises with a gentle slope westwardly and north 
 westwardly, be held. Across the heavily timbered 
 
 295 
 
2 g6 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 valley, east of the "Little River," a mere skirmish 
 line can easily pass, skulking Indian-like from tree 
 to tree, or in the darkness of the night, across the 
 little knee-deep river; they are protected at the foot 
 of the long slope by the banks of the stream as 
 safely as by the best breastworks. 
 
 The banks of the stream once attained, the attack 
 ing army has gained vantage ground, for their rifle 
 shots can reach the very crest of the hill; and 
 besides, their advance, when they wish to go farther, 
 is through the woods and they can creep from tree 
 to tree while the abundant force in the rear can keep 
 the enemy well under cover. 
 
 A trifling distance to the north of the little fort, 
 with De Villiers single field-piece, protected by 
 great logs that bed themselves in the soil, is a 
 spring in the hillside which furnishes water for the 
 infantry and the men who man the single piece of 
 artillery. The point of the hill at the south (across 
 the smaller creek), that reaches toward us to within 
 a rifle-shot of this death trap, is selected by Saint 
 Ange as a strategic position. He hopes to prevent 
 the besieged from reaching the water, but is 
 baffled, for they succeeded by means of their cov 
 ered way down to the little creek. The ditch that 
 leads down to the water is deep and well protected; 
 time alone can obliterate it; it is well protected by 
 warriors in the rifle-pits. 
 
 Hunger sees no beauty in the great river that, so 
 near, flows gently from the direction of the rising 
 September sun for a little distance, turns south 
 wardly and passes the Rock, nearly a league 
 away. Menacing the overcrowded palisade, be- 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 297 
 
 tween this hill and the "Little River" is another 
 part of the besieging army. Thus surrounded, 
 death is certain to the besieged, for successful resist 
 ance seems impossible. To surrender is to offer 
 themselves to torture at the stake. The conditions 
 seem desperate, for the pangs of hunger touch alike 
 the old and young. The dogs are eaten and chil 
 dren gnaw the bones. The aged brood in silence. 
 Warriors lie along the ridge, in irregular shallow 
 trenches, and guard the steep that drops to the 
 northward, while others, along the same ridge, are 
 prepared to resist any approach of warriors up the 
 gentle slope from the sheltering banks of the 
 "Little River," where hides Saint Ange s main body 
 of troops. 
 
 The Foxes are not alone hungered, for the be 
 siegers fare little better. Although they have the 
 fertile prairies around them and water in abundance, 
 still they hunger, for so large a body of hunters has 
 frightened the deer arid buffalo far away. To such 
 an extent does famine press that some of the allies 
 are forced to eat their quivers, and some desert in 
 order to obtain food. Fiercely they resolved to do 
 their share in annihilating the Foxes, but hunger 
 now cows them. The fields of corn that erstwhile 
 bordered the river are no more For many years 
 they have not been cultivated, for this region has 
 been No Man s Land. The incursions of the north 
 ern tribes, in their struggles to rob the Illinois of 
 the garden spot of the west, and the efforts of the 
 Illinois to drive intruders away, made it unsafe 
 for all. 
 
 Only occasional shots need be fired, and those 
 
298 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 merely to remind the Foxes of the continued pres 
 ence of their vengeful enemies; the French and 
 their allies have only to play a waiting game. In 
 the darkness of the night De Villiers forces charge 
 up the steep hill at the north and dig deeper the 
 trenches made by the Foxes to protect their pros 
 trate forms. The little piece of artillery across the 
 valley will serve its purpose well, if need there be. 
 Just behind the newly possessed trenches the 
 Frenchmen place two more. The morning dawns 
 and finds lines of shallow trenches within easy mus 
 ket shot of the north side of the stockade. The 
 tables are now turned. The besieged must become 
 the attacking party or surrender to be massacred. 
 To attack Saint Ange in the open valley to the east 
 will be fatal. They do not fear approach from the 
 south, for a few brave warriors, in their log-pro 
 tected pits, with flying arrows can baffle all who 
 come. Unpromising though sorties are, naught 
 else can offer any hope of escaping the stake. A 
 rush is made across the plain toward the trenches to 
 drive the Frenchmen from the ridge. It fails. As 
 the days pass other attempts are made with no suc 
 cess. Sullenly the Foxes keep to their stockaded 
 fort. Few shots are exchanged, but long muskets 
 are ready to be thrust out between the palisades 
 should the Frenchmen and allies leave their trenches 
 for attack. Along the River of the Rock, at the old 
 village site, the reserves of the attacking army are 
 placed, and from there reliefs are sent to hold 
 strategic points. 
 
 Many of the allies are only half-hearted. The 
 Foxes for many years have been their neighbors, 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 299 
 
 and their main grievance is that the Foxes have 
 plundered the French who came to trade, and thus 
 interfered with their own commerce. Even to this 
 time the Foxes are not fully supplied with guns, and 
 yet they have wrought military wonders. The sym 
 pathies of the Sacs and the Miamis are aroused to 
 such an extent that they seek to aid many to 
 escape, particularly the women and children. 
 These attempts to aid the besieged so anger some 
 of the allies that a breaking up of the expedition 
 seems likely to take place. Saint Ange marches a 
 hundred Frenchmen between the angered parties 
 and puts an immediate stop to the intrigue of the 
 Sacs and Weas by force of arms, and restores order. 
 Driven to despair, the Foxes demand a parley, but 
 all terms they ask are refused. 
 
 A favorable opportunity for the besieged to 
 attempt to escape at last presents itself. It is the 
 8th of September, 1730. The beautiful Indian sum 
 mer day ends in a heavy storm, and a cold night 
 follows. The breath of the great lake, little more 
 than fifty miles away, suddenly comes, reducing the 
 warmth of mild autumn to the chill of blustering 
 March. In the darkness the warriors quietly emerge 
 from the stockade; with caution they creep down 
 the abrupt slope at the southeastern termination of 
 the palisades; the women and enfeebled grope their 
 way, and children, weak from hunger, cling to 
 mothers scanty garments and shake with fear. 
 Alas, the wail of infants tell of the escape! With 
 what anxiety the mothers attempt to quiet them! 
 On the success of that attempt escape from tortures, 
 which mean a thousand death-pangs, depends. A 
 
300 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 Sac woman, perhaps herself with babe at breast, 
 also betrays the persecuted people. With warriors 
 at front, resolved to die for their loved ones, they 
 find their way across the "Little River," between 
 the French who are camped along the larger stream 
 and those who occupy the eastern slope of the 
 hill. Unwatchful, the French and allies have 
 sought shelter from the storm. As the fleeing ones 
 pass beyond the besiegers lines, the larger portion 
 of the warriors fall behind to guard the rear. 
 Enough remain in front to form an advance guard. 
 The half-friendly allies of the French know of the 
 escape, and some of them render assistance. The 
 Foxes are not pursued, for, in the darkness, the war 
 riors cannot distinguish friend from foe; they can 
 only await the dawn. To turn to the southeast and 
 cross the river is impossible, and yet that is the 
 direction in which all the hope of the Foxes lie. 
 Were the circumstances different, to take any well- 
 known trail would be wise; but they have no choice, 
 and strike toward the east they must. For a mile 
 they pass through the heavy timber extending across 
 the valley and, for some distance, beyond the 
 bkiff. In these woods, upon the eastern hill, 
 they meet their fate; to move out on the prairie is 
 to be surrounded at approach of day and be over 
 whelmed. 
 
 Knowing that their departure has been discovered, 
 to halt upon this hill in the heavy timber is pru 
 dent. Here they make their last stand. The Mas- 
 coutins and Kickapoos take revenge and here the 
 Illinois of the Rock, the very people who for years 
 have been warred against by the Foxes to such an 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 301 
 
 extent as to be driven from their homes, fully glut 
 their vengeance. The prisoners, spared for a time 
 only, are brought back to the camps along the 
 "Little River," and to the larger stream, the 
 Riviere du Rocher, where every savage art is prac 
 ticed upon them, and they perish. 
 
 Words cannot tell the tale of horror! What brush 
 can depict the agonizing scene? Women, children, 
 and old men fall victims to the hatchet, for they are 
 not worthy to die as warriors die. The warriors 
 that survive the struggle are greater game. They 
 are tied to trees, and there sing their death-songs, 
 while the flames of slow fires creep around their 
 lower limbs. No cry of anguish escapes them. 
 Wrists tied together, their arms around the tree or 
 stake, they have some freedom to walk, but only on 
 beds of burning coals. In derision they are prom 
 ised warmth, and necklaces of red hot hatchets are 
 placed upon their naked shoulders. Scalps are torn 
 from their heads while yet they live, but with stolid 
 mien they sing to the last breath. The Frenchmen 
 raise no hand in pity, such is the end! 
 
 The frosts of autumn have dyed to crimson the 
 leaves of the maples, and the blood of the natives 
 has stained the sod. When comes, anew the spring 
 the violets shall have a brighter hue and the blue 
 bells be richer imitations of the eyes of beauty, 
 springing, as they shall, from soil enriched by tears 
 of agony, by blood of innocent children, and still 
 more by the flesh and bones of the brave. How 
 sad the scene! The maples sigh in the soft winds 
 of September, but no human sigh of sympathy for 
 the tortured is heard. No friend is left to weave a 
 
302 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 wreath of autumn flowers for the loved, nor laurels 
 for the slaughtered braves. 
 
 The prophecy that after this defeat the Foxes 
 would "no more trouble the earth" failed to come 
 true, although the troubles remained less than they 
 were before. The route from Green Bay to the 
 west, up the Fox river of Wisconsin and down the 
 Wisconsin river, was open for a time, and Fort 
 Beauharnois, on Lake Pepin, was reestablished. 
 Scattered bands of Foxes still remained. They were 
 attacked by the Sioux, and also by the Illinois, on 
 the borders of "Lake Maramech, " says Ferland. 
 (II., 439.) Where this lake is I am unable to learn. 
 Possibly it is one of those at the headwaters of the 
 Fox river of Illinois, not far from the ancient 
 "Great Village of Maramech." Several other tribes, 
 from time to time, directed their efforts toward the 
 more complete destruction of the Foxes. One of 
 the last was made by Iroquois of the Lake of Two 
 Mountains, north of the St. Lawrence river, joined to 
 some Hurons of Detroit who asked their assistance. 
 Fifty Christian Iroquois arrived at Detroit, from 
 which place they departed on the i/th of October, 
 1732, numbering seventy-four well-armed warriors. 
 They crossed the peninsula of Michigan and built a 
 fort at Chicago, where they left their sick. They 
 were then conducted by two Mascoutins as far as the 
 banks of the Wisconsin river, at which place some 
 of the Foxes had collected. Mounting a high hill, 
 they were surprised to see four or five large cabins 
 in the valley. The Foxes came out to meet them. 
 After they had discharged their guns, the Iroquois 
 and Hurons rushed upon the Foxes, hatchet in 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 303 
 
 hand, and forced them to take flight. They then 
 pushed into the village, where they massacred a 
 large number of men, women, and children. The 
 attack was so fierce that the Foxes had three hun 
 dred killed and taken. The few who escaped dis 
 persed among the other nations. Thirty or forty 
 men, and as many women, surrendered to De Vil- 
 liers, who then commanded at Green Bay. The 
 latter sent an envoy to Quebec, accompanied by two 
 chiefs of these people, as hostages. One named 
 Kiala, who had been the principal author of previous 
 treasonable acts, was sent to Martinique. His wife 
 remained some time at Lorette, but finally joined 
 her husband. 
 
 Still the Foxes could not remain quiet. They 
 sought to ally themselves with a band of Sacs who 
 had built a fort at Green Bay. What then followed 
 is well told by Ferland. (II., 40.) 
 
 "De Villiers arrived at Green Bay on the 6th day 
 of September. At a league from the place he was 
 met by Repentigny, commandant at Mackinaw, 
 with sixty Frenchmen and two hundred savages. 
 De Villiers had ordered Repentigny to hold himself 
 in readiness to march immediately upon hearing a 
 signal that was . to consist of three gun-shots. 
 Arriving at the French fort, De Villiers sent to find 
 the Sac chiefs, to whom he explained that the Gov 
 ernor-General had promised to spare the lives of the 
 Foxes if they would remove to Montreal. He 
 declared that if they did not send the Foxes who 
 were among them within a given time he would 
 come for them. The time expired and no Foxes 
 had appeared. De Villiers, whom Repentigny had 
 
304 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 joined, proceeded at once to the fort of the Sacs 
 with some Frenchmen to demand the delivery of 
 the Foxes. Moved by his courage, and without 
 consulting the rules of prudence, for he only had 
 nine Frenchmen with him, he undertook to tear 
 down the barriers of the fort of the Sacs. Some 
 chiefs commanded him to retire, because their 
 young men could not be controlled, and said that if 
 he continued he would surely die; but nothing 
 deterred him. In a moment a gun-shot, fired by a 
 Sac, laid low the son of De Villiers, by the side of 
 his father. The father fired upon the first Sac that 
 presented himself. A general discharge of mus 
 ketry was returned by the Sacs; De Villiers fell dead, 
 and several Frenchmen were wounded. Repentigny 
 was killed; also were seven other Frenchmen of his 
 command. A few days later, another son of De Vil 
 liers assembled many from the friendly tribes and 
 marched against the Sacs, who had abandoned their 
 fort, crossing the Mississippi river, whither they had 
 fled with the few Foxes who remained." 
 
 The account of this affair is also found in Margry 
 (Affluents of the Mississippi River, p. 470). The 
 Sacs became much disgusted with the Foxes and 
 required them to build a fort of their own, but 
 allowed it to be near theirs. 
 
 In 1734 the Foxes were reduced to a hundred 
 warriors. (TV. Y. Col. Docs., IX., 1055.) Not 
 withstanding this, their numbers were sufficient to 
 seriously trouble the French, and Beauharnois, in 
 1741, wrote: "The court has written, since several 
 years, that it has nothing so much at heart as the 
 destruction of that Indian nation which cannot be 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 305 
 
 prevailed upon by presents and the good treatment 
 of the French to live in peace, notwithstanding all 
 of its promises. Besides, it is notorious that the 
 Foxes have a secret understanding with the Iroquois 
 to secure a retreat among the latter in case they be 
 obliged to abandon their village." 
 
 As before, the Foxes were not the only ones to irri 
 tate the French, for we find a report that various mem 
 bers of the Miami tribe and, it is proper to believe, 
 the Foxes and Sacs and still others, had entered into 
 a conspiracy to make a general attack on the French. 
 
 Thrice in the history of the west was the Hill of 
 Maramech sought as a place of refuge. To such an 
 extent was it a strategic point that the possible 
 necessity of works of defense, which need the hill 
 supplied, early led the Miamis to make their village 
 near-by. The abundance of fish in the river and of 
 game, before the warring tribes had driven the deer 
 and buffalo from the neighboring prairies, made 
 life easy to those men of the wilderness. 
 
 Although for years petted and cajoled by the 
 French, the natives, influenced by the English, 
 gradually turned against their erstwhile friends. 
 Louisiana and Canada joined where the watershed 
 between the valleys of the St. Lawrence and the 
 Mississippi drew its sinuous length over the prairies. 
 
 The traders of the Atlantic colonies, shut out at 
 the north and south, were late in finding an entrance 
 into the regions so abundant in furs. Their efforts 
 were futile until an entering wedge, in the form of 
 fleets of canoes, floated down the Ohio. Armed 
 traders forced their way, sold goods cheaply, and 
 won friends among the red men. 
 
3 o6 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 With the beginning and increase of their trade 
 came, and grew to disastrous dimensions, the 
 troubles of the French. In 1747 Sieur de Langueil, 
 in command at Detroit, succeeded in calming the 
 Sacs, Foxes, Pottawatomies, and Miamis. They 
 promised fidelity to the French father. The com 
 mandant took little stock in their avowal of friend 
 ship, however, as each tribe had recently killed 
 Frenchmen. By 1748 the English had reached the 
 Illinois regions in considerable force. The Illinois 
 tribe, still true to the French, only a few years 
 before could have successfully resisted the English; 
 but now they were languishing and also lacked the 
 essentials to a long campaign. The French clearly 
 saw that the loss of the Mississippi river and the 
 trade of Canada seemed inevitable. 
 
 A military report of 1748 reads: 
 
 "Of all of the Indians who are going home [from 
 the council] there are many faithful ones who are 
 most ^anxious to go back to their country to labor, 
 as was seen here, to reestablish peace. They belong 
 to the river St. Joseph, and are principally Potta 
 watomies, who are all allied with the Miamis, Sacs, 
 Foxes, and Folle Avoine. Their first harangue was 
 delivered with energy to convince us of their fidelity 
 and attachment to the French, whom they would 
 rather die with than ever abandon. . . . The Otta- 
 was have killed some [Frenchmen]; the Foxes of 
 The Bay, the Sioux and the Sacs, in a word, all the 
 nations, so to speak, have struck whenever an oppor 
 tunity presented; we dissimulate, as we are unable 
 to do anything else; their bad excuses are received 
 as sincere and ours refuse to do the like. . Three 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 307 
 
 strange Indians from Fond du Lac came at the 
 end of July to the Illinois country, with a message 
 from the English, in the name of the Iroquois, 
 Hurons, Abenaquis, Pouz [Pottawatomies], Ottawas, 
 and all the Wabash tribes, inviting the Illinois to 
 abandon the French, to withdraw and go to the 
 Cahokias, and they would come and cut them [the 
 French] off, after which the English would come to 
 the Illinois and supply their necessities abundantly. 
 . . . Mr. de Berthet has been informed by a Huron 
 returning from the Chicachas war, who had spent 
 the winter at Scioto with the Shawnees, of the 
 league formed by the latter to destroy the upper 
 country posts; this Huron assured him that the 
 Iroquois of the great village, as well as all the 
 other nations, had accepted the tomahawk against 
 the French and had all united to seize the French 
 posts, beginning with the Illinois country. . . . 
 Mr. de Berthet, the commandant at the Illinois, 
 writes us, in the months of November and Decem 
 ber, about the general conspiracy of the Indians 
 against the French, which was instigated by the 
 English, who always employ the Five Nations [the 
 Iroquois] to convey their sinister belts; the Illinois 
 narrowly escaped being seduced. . . . He [Vau- 
 dreuil] is, however, not free from uneasiness in 
 regard to the projects of the English. He has 
 learned that they have succeeded in causing a revolt 
 among the Miamis, at present settled on Rock river 
 (marked with a cross on the map) ;* the Weas, a 
 
 * Until this map is found I shall continue to believe that the 
 river referred to is the one known to the French as River of 
 
Now the hill s gentle slope is shocked only 
 by the battles of the elements. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 309 
 
 blood of women and children might again have 
 reddened the sod of Maramech Hill, which saw, 
 however, only the scowls upon the brows of the 
 angered natives, for the clouds of war passed away. 
 
 Over one hundred and fifty years have since 
 dropped the blossoms and ripened the nuts on Mara 
 mech Hill, yet haunted, mayhap, by the ghosts of 
 the murdered Foxes, but its sod has received no new 
 scars. 
 
 At Fort Duquesne, in 1755, a few Foxes joined 
 the French in that memorable battle which resulted 
 in the crushing defeat and death of General Brad- 
 dock; and some attacked the French upon Lake 
 George in 1757. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 In 1760 the Foxes joined the Sioux against the 
 Ojibways, and we are told by Schoolcraft (Part II., 
 149) that Waub-o-jeeg collected a party of three 
 hundred warriors and floated down the St. Croix 
 river, at their head, into the country of their ene 
 mies. 
 
 At the mouth of Snake river they were to meet a 
 party collected from Mille-Lac and Sand lake to 
 join them on their excursion. Not finding the party 
 as expected, and confident in his numbers, Waub-o- 
 jeeg pursued his course down stream, leaving marks, 
 however, by which the other party would be guided. 
 
 Arriving early in the morning at the head of the 
 portage that led around the falls of St. Croix, the 
 men had already lifted their light canoes on their 
 heads to carry across the portage when the scouts 
 came in with news that a large party of Sioux and 
 Foxes were landing at the foot of the portage. 
 The Ojibways put on their war paint and ornaments, 
 and in the middle of the portage they met their 
 enemies, who were on the same errand as they. 
 The combined Sioux and Fox warriors were much 
 more numerous than the Ojibways; so much so that 
 it is said that the Foxes, confident in their numbers, 
 requested the Sioux to stand by and see how easily 
 they could rout the Ojibways. The Sioux, there 
 fore, stood or sat on the rocks at a distance, quietly 
 
 smoking their pipes. 
 
 311 
 
312 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 The fight is said to have been fierce and hardly 
 contested. About noon the Foxes commenced to 
 give ground, having lost some of their leading men. 
 At last they turned and fled, the Ojibways after 
 them. They would probably have been killed to a 
 man and driven into the water had not, at this 
 moment, the Sioux, eager and fresh for fight, raised 
 their war-whoop and rushed to the rescue of their 
 defeated allies. 
 
 The Ojibways resisted their new enemies man 
 fully, but they, in turn, showed their backs in flight. 
 But few would have escaped to tell the sad tale of 
 their defeat had not, at this juncture, the party from 
 Sandy lake, who were to have met them at Snake 
 river, arrived at the head of the portage; seeing 
 their friends driven over the rocks into the water 
 they jumped out of their canoes, and the sixty war 
 riors, fresh for the contest, withstood the onset of 
 the Sioux and Foxes until their friends rallied again 
 to the fight. 
 
 The allied Sioux and Foxes being out of ammuni 
 tion, are said to have again fled, and their slaughter 
 is stated to have been great. Many were driven 
 over the steep rocks into the boiling rapids below, 
 and every crevice in the rocks contained a dead or 
 wounded enemy. 
 
 From this time the Foxes retired south, and gave 
 up the contest with their victorious enemies. 
 
 Captain Carver tells us, in his Travels , that near 
 the site of Prairie du Chien he observed the ruins of 
 a large town in a pleasing situation. He was in 
 formed this was the site of the ancient Fox village. 
 
 "On inquiring of the neighboring Indians why it 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 313 
 
 was deserted, I was informed that about thirty years 
 ago the Great Spirit appeared on the top of a pyra 
 mid of rocks, which lay a little distance to the west, 
 and warned them to quit their habitations, for the 
 land on which they lived belonged to Him and He 
 had occasion for it. As a proof to them that He 
 who gave them their orders was really the Great 
 Spirit, He told them the grass should immediate 
 ly spring on these very rocks from whence He 
 addressed them, which they knew to be barren. 
 The Indians obeyed, and soon after discovered that 
 the change had taken place. They showed me the 
 spot, but the growth of grass appeared no way 
 supernatural. I considered this to have been a 
 piece of strategy of the French or Spaniards to 
 answer some selfish view. . . . 
 
 "Soon after their removal they built a town on the 
 banks of the Mississippi river, near the mouth of the 
 Wisconsin, at a place called by the French La 
 Prairie les Chien, which signifies the dog plain. 
 It is a large town and contains about three hundred 
 families. The houses are well built, after the Indian 
 manner, and are pleasantly situated on very rich 
 soil, from which they raise every necessary of life in 
 great abundance. This town is the great mart 
 where all of the western tribes, and those who 
 inhabit the remote branches of the Mississippi, annu 
 ally assemble about the end of May, bringing with 
 them their furs to dispose of to the traders." 
 
 The dates above given are questioned by some. 
 The fact that they numbered about fifteen hundred 
 people shows that the Foxes could probably muster 
 two or three hundred warriors. 
 
3 i4 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 In 1763 they are given in the report as numbering 
 about three hundred and twenty warriors. 
 
 It is probable that never a year passed but that 
 some branch of the Fox tribe was embroiled against 
 the whites or neighboring tribes. 
 
 The Foxes increased in numbers rapidly, as is 
 shown by an account given in Drake s Life of Black 
 Hawk, page 45, from which I quote: 
 
 "The Reynards reside in three villages; the first 
 on the west side of the Mississippi, six miles above 
 the rapids of the river de Roche [Rock river]; the 
 second about twelve miles in the rear of the lead 
 mines, and the third on Turkey river, half a league 
 from its source. They are engaged in the same 
 wars, and have the same alliance as the Sauks, with 
 whom they must be considered as indissoluble in 
 war and peace. They t hunt on both sides of the 
 Mississippi, from the river Iowa (below the Prairie 
 des Chiens) to a river of that name above said vil 
 lage. They raise a great quantity of corn, beans, 
 and melons, the former of these articles in such 
 quantities as to sell many hundred bushels per 
 annum." 
 
 In 1805, according to Lieutenant Pike, the total 
 number of people in the Sauk nation was two thou 
 sand eight hundred and fifty, of whom fourteen hun 
 dred were children, seven hundred and fifty women, 
 and seven hundred warriors. They resided in a vil 
 lage and had about seven hundred stand of arms. 
 Their trade was principally in deerskins, with some 
 bear and a few otter, beaver, and raccoon skins. 
 The total number of the Foxes was one thousand 
 seven hundred and fifty, of whom eight hundred and 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 315 
 
 fifty were children, five hundred women, and four 
 hundred warriors, with about four hundred stand of 
 arms; their village and their trade being the same as 
 those of the Sacs. 
 
 Some further items of information about these 
 tribes may be gleaned from the statistics furnished 
 by Lewis and Clark s expedition. It is there stated 
 that the Saukee, or O-sau-kee (Sacs), spoke a primi 
 tive language, dwelt principally in two villages, had 
 about five hundred warriors and two thousand souls 
 in all in the tribe, and were at war with the Osages, 
 Chippewas, and Sioux. The Foxes (or Ot-tar-gar-me, 
 in the Saukee language) then numbered not more 
 than twelve hundred souls and about three hundred 
 warriors. "These nations" [the Sacs and Foxes], 
 says Mr. Lewis, "are so perfectly consolidated that 
 they may in fact be considered as one nation. They 
 are extremely friendly to the whites and seldom injure 
 their traders; but they are the most implacable ene 
 mies to the Indian nations with whom they are at 
 war; to them is justly attributed the almost entire 
 destruction of the Missouries, the Illinois, the Caho- 
 kias, Kaskaskias, and Peorias." 
 
 In 1825 the secretary of war estimated the entire 
 number of Sacs and Foxes at four thousand six hun 
 dred souls, and in 1826 the warriors were supposed 
 to number between twelve and fourteen hundred. 
 Supposing these estimates to approximate the truth, 
 it appears that during the twenty years between 
 1805 and 1825, these tribes had increased very con 
 siderably in numbers. 
 
 The traders generally, and those who had most 
 intercourse with the Sacs and Foxes, spoke of them 
 
3 i6 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 as honest in their dealings, and felt safe among 
 them, seldom locking their doors by day or night, 
 and allowing them free ingress to their stores and 
 houses. Their reputation for courage, it appears, 
 does not stand quite so fair. Lieutenant Pike 
 speaks of them as being more dreaded by their sav 
 age brethren for "their deeds and inclinations for 
 stratagem than for their open courage." Major 
 Thomas Forsythe, late United States agent among 
 the Sacs and Foxes, calls them a dastardly and 
 cowardly set of Indians. The correctness of these 
 charges may be questioned. Mr. Schoolcraft, in 
 speaking of the Foxes, says: "The history of their 
 migrations and wars shows them to have been a 
 restless and spirited people, erratic in their disposi 
 tions, having a great contempt for agriculture and a 
 predominant passion for war." He adds: "They 
 still retain their ancient character and are constantly 
 embroiled in wars and disputes with their neigh 
 bors, the results of which show that they have more 
 courage in battle than wisdom in council." 
 
 In a report of the war department to the Presi 
 dent, made by the Secretary, Mr. Cass, in 1832, the 
 Sacs and Foxes are spoken of as being distinguished 
 for their "daring spirit of adventure and for their 
 natural courage." 
 
 In 1811, there being a strong probability of a war 
 with Great Britain, a deputation of the Sacs and 
 Foxes visited Washington City to see the Presi 
 dent, by whom they were told that, in the event of 
 a war taking place with England, their great father 
 did not wish them to interfere on either side, but to 
 remain neutral. He did not want their assistance, 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 317 
 
 but desired them to hunt and support their families 
 and live in peace. Immediately after the war of 
 1812 began, the Sacs and Foxes, with whom, as with 
 Indians generally, war is the great business of life, 
 felt that they ought, as a matter of course, to take 
 sides with one party or the other, and went to St. 
 Louis to offer their services to the United States 
 agent to fight against the British; but the offer was 
 declined on the ground that the government of the 
 United States had resolved not to employ the 
 Indians in that capacity. The machinations of the 
 British, however, were successfully continued. The 
 Sacs and Foxes divided upon the question of 
 taking up arms against the United States. A part of 
 them claimed the protection of the American gov 
 ernment, and received it; a part joined the British 
 standard, Black Hawk among the number, and 
 fought against the Americans until the peace of 
 1815. The number of warriors who joined the Brit 
 ish is supposed to have been about two hundred, and 
 they have ever since been known as the "British 
 Band," at the head of which was General Black 
 Hawk. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 The main reason given by the early French 
 traders, be it remembered, for desiring to destroy 
 the Foxes, was that the Foxes, whose home for so 
 many years was along the Wisconsin river, interfered 
 with the French traders, requiring them to pay toll 
 for the right to pass through their country; but we 
 learn that the French military officers, after the 
 river had come into their possession, probably did 
 precisely the same thing. 
 
 In 1827, when the Hon. Henry S. Beaty and Judge 
 Doty were passing up the Wisconsin river, they 
 were halted by a sentinel who was stationed upon 
 the wharf at a trading post and ordered ashore. The 
 command was at first disregarded and the oarsmen 
 were instructed to go on. They became alarmed, 
 however, when the sentinel made ready with his 
 musket and threatened to fire if the boat did not 
 immediately come ashore. The boat approached 
 and they were met at the wharf by the officer of the 
 day, of whom they inquired when war had been 
 declared. He sheepishly replied that it was a 
 standing order of the post that no boat or vessel 
 should be permitted to pass without reporting. 
 There were general complaints that the officers 
 expected, and usually received, a reward for permit 
 ting traders to pass. 
 
 "Upon the igth of August, 1825, William Clark 
 319 
 
320 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 and Lewis Cass, commissioners on behalf of the 
 United States, concluded a treaty at Prairie du 
 Chien, in the territory of Michigan, with the chiefs 
 and warriors of the Sioux, Winnebagoes, Menomi- 
 nees, Chippewas, Ottawas, Pottawatomies, Sacs, 
 Foxes, and loways. The objects of this treaty were 
 the restoration of peace among the Indian tribes, 
 several of whom had been for some time waging war 
 against each other, the settlement of boundary 
 lines between these tribes respectively, and between 
 them and the United States. The commissioners 
 succeeded in effecting a peace between the Sioux 
 and Chippeways, and between the Sacs, Foxes, and 
 loways on the one part, and the Sioux on the other; 
 and also in adjusting the boundary lines of the ter 
 ritory of each tribe to the satisfaction of all parties. 
 Under this treaty nothing was asked by the United 
 States nor was anything granted to them; the char 
 acter in which the government presented itself 
 being simply that of a pacificator. 
 
 "The concourse of Indians assembled at this 
 council was very great. About three thousand 
 came to the council ground, clothed in their war 
 dresses, and armed with bows, war-clubs, and toma 
 hawks. The Sacs and Foxes were the last to arrive, 
 but were very imposing and warlike in their appear 
 ance when they reached the ground. They ascended 
 the Mississippi to Prairie du Chien in a fleet of 
 canoes, lashed together. They passed and repassed 
 the town in a connected squadron, standing erect in 
 their canoes, in full dress, singing their war songs. 
 Upon landing, they drew up in martial order, as if 
 in warlike defiance of their bitter enemies, the 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 321 
 
 Sioux, who were encamped near the shore, and who, 
 in turn, shot back the fierce looks of hostility upon 
 their ancient foe. An eye-witness describes this 
 scene as one unique and singularly magnificent. 
 The council was held under a spacious booth of 
 green boughs, and lasted for several days. Keokuk 
 was present on this occasion, as the head chief of 
 the Sacs, and took an active part in the council; his 
 course being marked by that moderation and sound 
 policy for which he is eminently distinguished." 
 (Drake s Life of Black Hawk, p. 67.) 
 
 "The Sauks and Foxes* have a historical legend 
 of a severe battle having been fought opposite the 
 mouth of the Iowa river, about fifty or sixty miles 
 above the mouth of the Rock river. The Sauks and 
 Foxes descended the Mississippi in canoes, and, 
 landing at the place above described, started east, 
 toward the enemy; they had not gone far before 
 they were attacked by a party of the Mascoutins. 
 The battle continued nearly all day; the Sauks and 
 Foxes, for want of ammunition, finally gave way 
 and fled to their canoes; the Mascoutins pursued 
 them and fought desperately, and left but few of 
 the Sauks and Foxes to carry home the story of their 
 defeat. Some forty or fifty years ago the Sauks and 
 Foxes attacked a small village of Peorias, about 
 a mile below St. Louis and were there defeated. 
 At a place on the Illinois river called Little Rock, 
 there were formerly killed by the Chippeways and 
 Ottawas a number of men, women, and children of 
 
 *The total number of Foxes given in 1750 by Lieutenant 
 Pike was eight hundred and fifty children, five hundred 
 women, and four hundred warriors, the latter well armed. 
 
322 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 the Minneway [Illinois] nation. In 1800 the Kicka- 
 poos made a great slaughter of the Kaskaskia 
 [Illinois] Indians." (Drake s Life of Black Hawk^ 
 p. 17.) 
 
 Going back to Revolutionary times: 
 
 When the Foxes learned that war had been de 
 clared between Great Britain and its colony, all felt 
 that they must take a hand; but whether to unite 
 with the English or with the rebels, using the Eng 
 lish term that soon became familiar to them, was 
 long debated, and they became divided. During 
 the many years of the struggle an opportunity was 
 given to any one who might choose to serve Great 
 Britain or the colonies struggling to free themselves 
 from oppression. The brandy trade, more than any 
 other, seems to have influenced the Foxes all the 
 Indians believed that the white settlers wished to 
 destroy the tribe both by drink and by war. Some 
 Indians were killed by white men and an officer 
 thought to pacify the members of the tribe by a 
 present of whisky. A Fox chief called Le Chat 
 (the cat) became very much offended and stove in a 
 barrel of whisky, saying that that present "did not 
 pay for the bodies of the two dead men whom the 
 whites had killed." 
 
 The British officers succeeded in recruiting twenty 
 Foxes and twenty Sacs for service in the Revolu 
 tionary war against the Americans. The warriors 
 of these and neighboring tribes were employed 
 along the Mississippi river, and at times did good 
 service against the Americans in the southern por 
 tions of Illinois, but at times vacillated. They were 
 often charged with having "listened to the rebels." 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 323 
 
 Even the Ottawas of the upper Mississippi and 
 Lake Superior were urged, under the leadership of 
 a Chippewa chief, to unite with the Sioux, Sacs, 
 and Foxes against the rebels on the Illinois and near 
 that quarter, the operations to be directed against 
 bodies of armed men and forts or strongholds by 
 siege, as the garrisons of those places were de 
 pendent on the inhabitants, who were weary of their 
 demands, for their daily bread. The warriors 
 recruited among those tribes were ordered to ren 
 dezvous at the mouth of the Wisconsin river, and 
 for a time excursions were made wherever it was 
 believed that effective blows could be struck. A 
 portion of them were sent to watch the lead mines 
 with a view to preventing the rebels from obtaining 
 lead. One of the successful excursions was made 
 against the Americans at Cahokia, in which several 
 hundred cattle were destroyed and forty-three 
 scalps, thirty-four prisoners, black and white, were 
 taken, and about seventy persons killed; but the 
 Indians were beaten off, owing to the treachery of 
 some of the Sacs and Foxes and the interpreter, it 
 was said. 
 
 The Foxes were scolded and praised, in turn, by 
 the English, whether censured or praised depending 
 upon the intentions they at that moment expressed. 
 An English officer at Mackinaw, in 1780, wrote: 
 "The Sacs and Foxes have taken up the hatchets 
 against us"; and in 1781 Sinclair wrote to the Gov 
 ernor: "The Sacs and Foxes from the banks of the 
 Mississippi, with the Menominee Indians, have 
 arrived, and more are expected daily from other 
 tribes bordering on the Illinois country who have 
 
3 2 4 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 sent to inform me that they do not mean any longer 
 to listen to the tales imposed upon them by the 
 enemy" (the British). It thus seems that the Eng 
 lish were no more successful in winning the con 
 stancy of the Foxes than the French had been. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 LEAD MINES 
 
 The Foxes were among those first to learn from 
 the French the value of the mineral found along the 
 upper Mississippi river and its tributaries. While it 
 is probable that earlier travelers learned of the 
 existence of the lead mines, Perrot must be credited 
 with making them known. 
 
 We read in La Potherie (II., 251): "A Mascoutin 
 chief presented him [Perrot] with a fragment of ore 
 that he had found on the banks of a stream which 
 discharges into the Mississippi." And again: "The 
 great chief of the Miamis, knowing that Perrot was 
 there [had arrived], sent to him a war-chief and ten 
 young warriors, to say to him that his [the chief s] 
 village was four leagues below and that he much 
 wished to join him [Perrot] at his fire [camping- 
 place]. The chief came, two days after, accom 
 panied by twenty men and their wives, and pre 
 sented him with a fragment taken from a lead mine. 
 Perrot pretended not to know the utility of the 
 mineral, even reproaching the chief for making such 
 a present, by which he intended to cover the two 
 dead Frenchmen that the Mascoutins had assassi 
 nated, with the three Miamis who had escaped from 
 the Iroquois." (La Potherie, II., 260.) 
 
 The primitive manner of mining and smelting the 
 ores by the Indians is described in Smith s History 
 of Wisconsin (III., 353): 
 
 "The Indians had their lead diggings in many 
 325 
 
326 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 parts of the country, now properly called the lead- 
 bearing region; these diggings were of course shal 
 low, they not possessing either the necessary tools, 
 the ability, or the industry of sinking shafts of any 
 depth. Their mode of smelting was thus: A hole, 
 or cavity, was dug in the face of a piece of sloping 
 ground, about two feet in depth, and as much in 
 width at the top; this hole was made in the shape 
 of a mill-hopper, and lined, or faced, with flat 
 stones. At the bottom, or point of the hopper, 
 which was about eight or nine inches square, other 
 narrow stones were laid across, grate-wise; a chan 
 nel, or eye, was dug from the sloping side of the 
 ground, inwards, to the bottom of the hopper; this 
 channel was about a foot in width and in height, 
 and was filled with dry wood and brush. The hop 
 per being filled with the mineral and the wood 
 ignited, in a few minutes the molten lead fell 
 through the stones, at the bottom of the hopper, 
 and thence was discharged through the eye over 
 the earth. It was certainly a simple but rough and 
 improvident way of gathering the melted lead; but 
 in the great abundance of mineral, and ease of its 
 procuration, it sufficed for the wants of the Indians. 
 At many of these primitive smelting places the 
 white settlers afterward extracted a profitable har 
 vest of rich lead from the slag and refuse of the 
 Indian laborers smelting; but even with the whites, 
 in after time, the old ash-and-log furnace was little 
 better than the Indian mode of smelting, in regard 
 to economy." 
 
 The Indians guarded the mines, fearing that the 
 white men wo- d take possession. They were espe- 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 327 
 
 cially particular that no American should learn their 
 location. 
 
 In 1816 Col. John Shaw, a boatman, was a com 
 mon carrier, taking merchandise from St. Louis to 
 the trading posts on the upper Mississippi. Hav 
 ing discharged his load at Prairie du Chien, he 
 descended to Fever river to load with lead for St. 
 Louis that had been received in payment for goods, 
 by the merchants of that city. The traders, respect 
 ing the wishes of the Indians, requested Colonel 
 Shaw to wait at the mouth of Fever river until the 
 lead could be delivered to him. This the Colonel 
 refused to do, as he could not wait so long, and 
 asked permission to go up the river for the lead. 
 The Indians declined, replying that "the Americans 
 must not see their lead mines," as they were partic 
 ularly suspicious of Americans ; but they did not feel 
 the same toward the Frenchmen, with whom they 
 had been so long associated. As the Colonel spoke 
 French as fluently as he did English, the traders 
 told the Indians that he was a Frenchman as well 
 as the boatmen, the last being true. A little persua 
 sion opened the way to the smelting works. He 
 found no town, but many camps and about twenty 
 furnaces. The molten lead was run into "flats," of 
 about seventy pounds each, being formed by smelt 
 ing the mineral in a small walled hole in which the 
 fuel and mineral were mingled and the liquid lead 
 run out, in front, into a hole scooped in the earth so 
 that a bowl-shaped mass of lead was formed. The 
 squaws dug the mineral and carried it in sacks, on 
 their heads, to the furnaces. (Wisconsin Historical 
 Collections > II., 226.) 
 
328 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 By the methods of mining among the Foxes, 
 Sacs, and Pottavvatomies, who owned the mineral 
 lands, much mineral was left in the old diggings 
 among the debris, which made reworking by the 
 whites quite profitable. 
 
 The Hon. E. B. Washburn, referring to the lead 
 mines, tells us that the discovery of certain new 
 mines was regarded as a great secret by the Indians, 
 and one not to be divulged without offending the 
 Great Spirit. Their desire for profit, however, was 
 so great that they sought to reveal the secret in a 
 way that, they believed, could not be considered by 
 the Great Spirit as a violation of His commands. 
 So they told a prospector, with whom they had 
 some dealing, that if he would go to the top of a 
 hill with them they would shoot an arrow in the 
 direction of their newly-discovered mines. (Wis 
 consin Historical Collections, X. , 244.) They soon 
 drove him off, however; but other white men, 
 through the agency of a squaw, acquired rights to 
 mine there, yet their primitive methods were little 
 improvement over those of the simple people who, 
 as many times before, had permitted the invaders 
 to gain an advantage over them, which advantage 
 meant, in the end, utter destruction. 
 
 During the Revolutionary war some of the west 
 ern tribes had been won over to the British, but not 
 so were the French and Indians in the country of 
 the Illinois. The Foxes and Sacs, among others, 
 received orders from the British commander to pro 
 ceed to the lead mines and prevent the people of 
 the Illinois region from availing themselves of the 
 lead ore. The Illinois were informed that no 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 329 
 
 quarter would be given them if they ventured 
 near. 
 
 That mining became an important industry is 
 shown by facts told in Vol. II., p. 252, of the Wis 
 consin Historical Collections, where a letter to the 
 secretary of war, written in 1811, states that "the 
 Sacs, Foxes, and lowas can be as well supplied at 
 the latter place [Prairie du Chien] as at the former 
 [St. Louis]; particularly as they have mostly aban 
 doned the chase except to furnish themselves with 
 meat, and turned their attention to the manufacture 
 of lead, which they procure from a mine about sixty 
 miles below Prairie du Chien. During the last 
 season they manufactured four hundred thousand 
 pounds of that article, which they exchanged for 
 goods." 
 
 This prosperity did not last long, for the avari- 
 ciousness of the whites first led to encroachments, 
 then to murders, and soon to expulsion by the 
 so-called treaty made at Prairie du Chien. 
 
 In the early part of the year 1828, the President of 
 the United States appointed Governor Cass and Col. 
 Pierre Menard to treat with certain tribes of Indians 
 for the cession of what is called the "mineral 
 region" lying on the Mississippi, south of the Wis 
 consin. The commissioners arrived at Green Bay 
 late in the summer of that year, and on the 25th of 
 August made a temporary agreement with the 
 Indians, by which the whites were allowed to occupy 
 the country where the lead mines were worked; and 
 in the ensuing year a treaty was to be made with the 
 Indians for the purchase of the mineral country. In 
 the meantime, no white man was to cross a certain 
 
330 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 line, specified in said agreement, to dig for ore; and 
 finally the Indians were paid twenty thousand dol 
 lars in goods for the trespasses already committed 
 on their lands by the white miners. This agreement 
 was ratified by the President and Senate of the 
 United States on January 7, 1829. Soon after Presi 
 dent Jackson came into office, in 1829, he appointed 
 General McNeil of the army to fill the place of 
 Governor Cass in the said commission, which was to 
 meet at St. Louis, and under the agreement above 
 mentioned to proceed to the mineral region to effect 
 its purchase by treaty. In consequence of some dis 
 agreement in opinion between these two commis 
 sioners, the President subsequently appointed 
 another, Caleb Atwater, Esq., of Ohio. They 
 reached Prairie du Chien about the middle of July, 
 where they met deputies on the part of the Winne- 
 bagoes, Chippeways, Ottawas, Pottawatomies, 
 Sioux, Sacs, Foxes, and Menominees; and on the 
 first of August a treaty was concluded for about 
 eight million acres, extending from the upper end 
 of Rock island to the mouth of the Wisconsin, from 
 latitude 41 15 to latitude 43 15 on the Missis 
 sippi. Following the meanderings of the river the 
 tract was about two hundred and forty miles from 
 south to north. It extended along the Wisconsin 
 and Fox rivers from west to east so as to give a pas 
 sage across the country from the Mississippi to Lake 
 Michigan. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 As has been said, traffic was carried on between 
 tribes when peace permitted. The great trails were 
 worn deep, not only by war parties, but often by 
 braves from the various tribes who traversed the coun 
 try with the staple products of their own sections. 
 The pipestone of Minnesota, both the crude article 
 and the artistically manufactured product, was taken 
 to the east and south. The flints from the Mountain 
 Limestone beds of Tennessee found their way north 
 ward in exchange for trinkets and for the copper of 
 the north in both its crude and its manufactured state. 
 The roughed-out flints, so abundantly produced in 
 Ohio, were taken westward and served to make the 
 spear-heads and knives so common throughout the 
 Mississippi valley, in regions where flint of the kind 
 is not plentiful. 
 
 The first great trail of traffic and war known in the 
 region that my story most concerns, reached across 
 the great prairies from the mouth of the Rock river 
 to Chicago. Others joined it from the north and 
 south, and an important trail followed the sinuous 
 bluffs of Rock river. In the map of 1680 (see page 
 27) the course of the great east-and-west route is 
 shown, and identified by the words Chemin du 
 Retour. The author of the map I refer to is not 
 known, but the information from which it was drawn 
 was gathered, as previously stated, from early 
 traders and from the Indians who knew it well. For 
 
332 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 generations their ancestors had traveled it. Henne- 
 pin did not pass over the trail, but his map of 1697 
 is the first to lay down the route to any extent 
 definitely. (See p. 40.) De Lisle s map of 1703 
 (see page 41) shows the same trail in dotted lines. 
 It followed the southern bank of Rock river to a 
 point near the present city of Dixon, Illinois; then 
 struck southeastwardly; thence down the Kishwau- 
 kee branch to a point near the "Great Village of 
 Maramech," just south of the modern little city of 
 Piano, in Kendall county, and from thence it passed 
 to Chicago. A branch, however, struck directly 
 east from Maramech, and, passing the head of Lake 
 Michigan, reached Detroit. Over this trail, after 
 the French had taken possession of the region, 
 deputies from the tribes passed to the site of French 
 power in Canada. It was over this that the British 
 band of Foxes, during the first third of the nine 
 teenth century, passed to and from Maiden, Canada, 
 to receive annuities from the British general there 
 in command; and later over this trail the home- 
 seekers came to the great grove-studded prairies, 
 which they accepted as the fulfillment of their 
 hopes. For two hundred years, at least, this route, 
 later called the Sac and Fox trail, was well known; 
 but with the coming of the plow its effacement 
 began, and now it is only discernible by a few 
 scars. 
 
 One of the last to avail himself of the great Sac 
 and Fox trail and of its Kishwaukee branch, which 
 latter formed a feeder, as it were, was John Kinzie, 
 in the early part of the year 1831. An account of 
 the journey is found in "Wau-Bun," a delightful 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 333 
 
 story from the pen of Mrs. Kinzie, a brave but some 
 what frail and helpless member of the party. The 
 time of her experiences was near the dawn of the 
 present occupation, and well did she name her book 
 "Wau-Bun," a native word meaning "the dawn." 
 
 Early in March they left Fort Winnebago, in 
 Wisconsin, on their way to Chicago. The swollen 
 streams made it best to strike southwest, so as to 
 cross Rock river at Ogle s Ferry. They stopped 
 the first night at Kellogg s Grove, and next day 
 reached the river where, the larger boat having been 
 carried away, they were ferried across in a canoe. 
 Mr. Kellogg joined them, as he had business to 
 transact at Chicago; and, so sure was he that the 
 place of destination would be reached quickly that 
 he endeavored to impress upon them that a supply 
 of provisions for two days would be sufficient. A 
 hearty breakfast at the house of Mr. Dixon was 
 ample for the time being. Mr. Dixon assured them 
 that there would be no difficulty if they would keep 
 a little to the north and strike the great Sac Trail. 
 Mrs. Kinzie s memory was evidently at fault when 
 mentioning the old Sac Trail, for that trail, when 
 known by that name, passed from the great Sac vil 
 lage, Saukenong, directly east, and did not pass so 
 far northward as the present city of Dixon, 
 
 Mr. Dixon, in giving his directions, probably said 
 that the Kishwaukee Trail, a branch of the Sac 
 Trail, would be reached by going a little distance to 
 the north. He assured them that if they did not go 
 far enough to the north they would not escape the 
 Winnebago Swamp; and, once in that, they would 
 have difficulty in getting out again. He assured 
 
334 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 them that the distance to Chicago was not great; 
 that two young men had reached Dixon from Chi 
 cago on the evening of the second day of travel, and 
 that, even with a lady in their party, they could 
 reach Chicago in less time than that. He impressed 
 upon them that they must be sure to get the great 
 trail that the Sacs had made in going from the Mis 
 sissippi river to Canada. 
 
 They took their leave in high spirits, and traveled 
 for a few miles along the banks of the Rock river 
 in a somewhat easterly direction. They had been 
 told that the road would cross the Sac Trail six 
 miles distant. Mrs. Kinzie says that her husband 
 feared the guide, Plante, was leading them too far 
 to the north, for the trail soon brought them to the 
 great bend of the river, now known as Grand 
 Detour. This fact warranted Mr. Kinzie in ignoring 
 the guide and in taking his course directly east. 
 They soon came to the Winnebago Swamp, which 
 they had difficulty in crossing. 
 
 On the 1 5th of March they awoke early and, feel 
 ing that they were lost, again began the search for 
 the great trail. After traveling many miles, they 
 came upon an Indian trail, deeply worn, running at 
 right angles with the course they were pursuing. 
 This I find, from a careful study of early maps, was 
 the Kishwaukee Trail. The sky was overcast, but 
 the clouds were so thin that the position of the 
 sun could give them direction. The guide was 
 quite sure that the new trail should be followed 
 northward; but Mr. Kinzie had lost confidence 
 in Plante and Kellogg, and after traveling a few 
 miles he turned abruptly saying to them that 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 335 
 
 they might go north if they pleased, but he would 
 turn to the south and take the trail in that direc 
 tion. 
 
 They followed the trail for a great distance, con 
 trary to the advice of the guide and Mr. Kellogg, 
 who frequently assured Mr. Kinzie that he was 
 going wrong. At last, turning a point of woods, 
 they came upon an Indian village. This, no doubt, 
 was the village of Shabbona, whose people were yet 
 away on their winter s hunt. I judge that it was the 
 village of Shabbona from the fact that the Kish- 
 waukee Trail passed the home of that great chief, 
 who, but a year later, showed himself to be a warm 
 friend of the whites. Provisions had become short, 
 and the travelers were much disappointed to find the 
 village vacant. They mounted and rode on, the 
 snow again falling, and after traveling some distance 
 halted for the night. 
 
 After a cold night, their hunger being relieved 
 only by a pot of coffee, they were ready for the 
 start. The last three crackers were given to Mrs. 
 Kinzie for her dinner, and Mr. Kellogg handed her 
 a piece of tongue and a slice of fruit cake, which he 
 had been "saving for the lady" since the day 
 before. The trail was still visible, and they fol 
 lowed it until about nine o clock, when they reached 
 Fox river, on the opposite side of which was Wau- 
 bansee s village. They shouted, but no answer 
 came for the village was deserted. Mr. Kinzie 
 decided to take a cross-trail that passed down the 
 bank of the river, hoping to find Indians wintering 
 near. They followed the bank of the river, then as 
 now bordered by timber. Suddenly Mrs. Kinzie s 
 
336 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 horse started, and she called to her husband that 
 Indians were near, for, as she says, the horse was 
 mortally afraid of these people; at the same time a 
 little dog ran from under the bushes and began bark 
 ing. Riding into the thicket a little distance they 
 found two squaws, crouching behind some bushes, 
 trying to conceal themselves. Addressing them in 
 the Pottawatomie language, Mr. Kinzie asked them 
 what they were doing there, and they replied that 
 they were digging Indian potatoes. Their lodge 
 was across the river, and by this fact Mr. Kinzie 
 gathered that they must have a canoe, and he re 
 quested them to take the party over. What kind of 
 a canoe it was we are not told, except that it was 
 small. It was probably a dugout, hewn from a tree 
 that had stood near by. It was necessary for Mrs. 
 Kinzie to lie flat on her back in the canoe while the 
 mother kneeling in the stern and the daughter at 
 the bow paddled across. They were then at the 
 site of ancient Maramech, the old Miami town, and 
 this Pottawatomie family was probably the last of 
 native blood to shelter itself amidst the great trees 
 that border the river and stud the hills near by. 
 Sylvan Spring, by what name then known we shall 
 not know, bubbled from the washed sands and kissed 
 the water-cresses as now; and there the master of 
 the family made his winter hunt, and the wife, with 
 the ample hospitality known to the native tribes 
 only, catered to those who came. 
 
 On being asked the name of the river, the woman 
 could only reply, "Sau-man-ong, " the word being a 
 general term applied to any large stream. Mr. 
 Kinzie became impressed with the fact that the vil- 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 337 
 
 lage they had passed was Waubansee s, and he esti 
 mated that they were then about fifty miles from 
 Chicago, which, by the way, is practically the exact 
 distance from Sylvan Spring to our modern great 
 city. The squaw assured Mr. Kinzie that Chicago 
 was close by, which, as he said, he took to mean 
 that it was probably not so far off as Canada. The 
 men busied themselves unpacking the horses, in 
 order to ford the river. The old woman, returning 
 to aid the others in crossing, left the younger one 
 with Mrs. Kinzie, who was seated on the trunk of a 
 fallen tree amidst the snow. The prospects were 
 gloomy, and she could not restrain her tears, because 
 of the utter desolation of spirit which disappoint 
 ment had wrought. The little squaw, Mrs. Kinzie 
 states, was looking into her face with wonder and 
 sympathy, and seemed to be speculating what could 
 bring tears to one who rode so fine a horse and was 
 so comfortably clothed. Soon the little girl was 
 joined by another, and after chattering a while they 
 trotted off into the woods. 
 
 The river having been crossed, Mrs. Kinzie fol 
 lowed the squaw to her lodge a little distance in the 
 woods. It was nicely arranged. Four sticks of 
 wood placed to form a square in the center answered 
 the purpose of a hearth, and in this the fire was 
 burning, the smoke escaping through an opening in 
 the roof. The hut was constructed of neat new 
 mats tied to the poles that formed the framework, 
 and on these poles were the dried food and other 
 household treasures. Ladles, a small kettle, and 
 wooden bowls also hung from the poles, and at the 
 center, by an iron chain depending from the frame- 
 
33 8 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 work, a kettle was hung. In the kettle food for the 
 returning hunter was being prepared. 
 
 Mr. Kinzie joined his wife at the lodge. They 
 were forced to disappoint the housewife by telling 
 her they had no bread, which, by the way, was 
 always much prized and often asked for by the 
 Indians. When she learned that Mrs. Kinzie had 
 had no breakfast, she filled a bowl from the kettle 
 and presented it. It was a soup made of Indian 
 potatoes, and, sauced with hunger, it was highly 
 relished. The two little girls came, and were much 
 astonished when Mrs. Kinzie took her prayer-book 
 from her pocket and began to read. As if fearing 
 to seem rude, they looked away and quietly ques 
 tioned their mother as to what the strange employ 
 ment could mean. 
 
 While thus engaged, Mrs. Kinzie was startled by 
 a sudden "Hoh!" when the mat that hung over the 
 entrance was raised and an Indian entered. He was 
 the master of the lodge, and had been out to shoot 
 ducks. Mrs. Kinzie tells us "he was tall, finely 
 formed, with a genial, open countenance, and he 
 listened to what his wife, in a quiet tone, related to 
 him, while he divested himself of his accouterments 
 in the most unembarrassed manner imaginable. 
 The narrative continues: "From the Indian he [Mr. 
 Kinzie] learned that we were in what was called the 
 Big Woods, or Tiche s [Specie s] Grove, from a 
 Frenchman of that name living not far from the 
 spot; that the river we had crossed was the Fox 
 river, and that he could guide us to Piche s, from 
 which the road was perfectly plain, or even to Chi 
 cago, if we preferred; but that we had better remain 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 339 
 
 encamped for the day, as there was a storm coming 
 on; and in the meantime he would go and shoot 
 some ducks for our dinner and supper. He was 
 accordingly furnished with powder and shot, and set 
 off for game without delay." 
 
 The home comforts found in the cabin were no 
 doubt sufficient to Mrs. Kinzie for a time, and she 
 amused herself by taking from her pocket a roll of 
 red ribbon, and presenting a piece to each of the 
 little girls. With it they were delighted, and 
 the mother~divided it and tied a piece to each of the 
 little clubs into which the hair was knotted on the 
 temples. This pleased them much, and their 
 mother joined them in their mirth. 
 
 The storm came, and such a night in Maramech 
 was experienced as I myself have often known; and 
 I seem to renew the experiences of my boyhood 
 when I read Mrs. Kinzie s description of that win 
 ter s night in the woods: 
 
 "The storm was raging without. The trees were 
 bending and cracking around us, and the air was 
 completely filled with the wild-fowl screaming and 
 quacking as they made their way southward before 
 the blast. Our tent was among the trees not far 
 from the river. My husband took me to the bank 
 to look for a moment at what we had escaped. The 
 wind was sweeping down from the north in a perfect 
 hurricane. The water was filled with masses of 
 snow and ice, dancing along upon the torrent, over 
 which were hurrying thousands of wild-fowl, ma 
 king the woods resound withiheir deafening clamor. 
 
 "Had we been one hour later, we could not pos 
 sibly have crossed the stream, and there would have 
 
340 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 been nothing for us but to have remained and 
 starved in the wilderness. Could we be sufficiently 
 grateful to that kind Providence that had brought 
 us safely through such dangers? 
 
 "The men had cut down an immense tree, and 
 built a fire against it, but the wind shifted so con 
 tinually that every five minutes the tent would 
 become completely filled with smoke, so that I was 
 driven into the open air for breath. Then I would 
 seat myself on one end of the huge log, as near the 
 fire as possible, for it was dismally cold; but the 
 wind seemed actuated by a kind of caprice, for in 
 whatever direction I took my seat, just that way 
 came the smoke and hot ashes, puffing in my face 
 until I was nearly blinded. Neither veil nor silk 
 handkerchief afforded an effectual protection, and I 
 was glad when the arrival of our huntsman, with a 
 quantity of ducks, gave me an opportunity of 
 diverting my thoughts from my own sufferings, by 
 aiding the men to pick them and get them ready for 
 our meal. 
 
 "We borrowed a kettle from our Indian friends. 
 It was not remarkably clean; but we heated a little 
 water in it, and prairie-hay d it out, before consign 
 ing our birds to it, and with a bowl of Indian pota 
 toes, a present from our kind neighbors, we soon 
 had an excellent soup. 
 
 "What with the cold, the smoke, and the driving 
 ashes and cinders, this was the most uncomfortable 
 afternoon I had yet passed, and I was glad when 
 night came and I could creep into the tent and 
 cover myself up in the blankets, out of the way of 
 all three of these evils. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 341 
 
 "The storm raged with ten-fold violence during 
 the night. We were continually startled by the 
 crashing of the falling trees around us, and who 
 could tell but that the next would be upon us? 
 Spite of our fatigue, we passed an almost sleepless 
 night. When we arose in the morning, we were 
 made fully alive to the perils by which we had been 
 surrounded. At least fifty trees, the giants of the 
 forest, lay prostrate within view of the tent. 
 
 "When we had taken our scanty breakfast, and 
 were mounted and ready for departure, it was with 
 difficulty we could thread our way, so completely 
 was it obstructed by the fallen trunks. 
 
 "Our Indian guide had joined us at an early hour, 
 and after conducting us carefully out of the wood, 
 and pointing out to us numerous bee-trees,* for 
 which he said that grove was famous, he set off at a 
 long trot, and about nine o clock brought us to 
 Piche s, a log cabin on a rising ground, looking off 
 over the broad prairie to the east. We had hoped 
 to get some refreshment here, Piche being an old 
 acquaintance of some of the party, but, alas! the 
 master was from home. We found his cabin occu 
 pied by Indians and travelers the latter few, the 
 former numerous." 
 
 The point of wood now laid down as Piche s 
 Grove is but a continuation of the heavy timber 
 that lines the southern bank of the Fox river, and is 
 less than five miles from the site of the ancient town 
 where I have placed the hut of this lone Indian and 
 
 * The honey-bee is not known in the perfectly wild countries 
 of North America. It is ever the pioneer of civilization, and 
 the Indians call it "the white man s bird." 
 
342 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 his family. The fact that they started early and 
 reached Specie s Grove by nine o clock shows that 
 they were probably as much as five miles west 
 therefrom, which would place them at Sylvan 
 Spring. Following the Sac Trail for a little dis 
 tance, they reached a cross-trail that, at that time, 
 paralleled the eastern bank of the Fox river from 
 Ottawa half way to Chicago. 
 
 The "Big Woods" were anywhere along Fox 
 river, near Batavia, near Aurora, and, in fact, any 
 where where tall timber was to be found. 
 
The Chief s Wigwam. Tama Reservation. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 At the Tama reservation, sitting by the fire in the 
 middle of the rush-mat-covered lodge of Chief Pu- 
 ci-to-nig-wa, with his counsellors and interpreters, I 
 found around me much of what we are so often told 
 in narratives of travelers through the west more 
 than two hundred years ago. The domicile of the 
 chief shows no change; it is precisely like those 
 described by Alouez, Perrot, and others. Rattles 
 consisting of gourds filled with pebbles serve, now 
 as then, at the ceremonial dances. Nothing mod 
 ern is seen except an occasional trunk or basket 
 around the walls of the cabin, mingled with those 
 home-made, of leather, with thongs for locks. 
 Mats serve as beds, some raised and some upon the 
 floor of well-beaten earth. The blankets are of the 
 kind first given in exchange by the early traders. 
 At the middle of the cabin a space is left for the 
 fire. Over its embers hangs a chain, upon which 
 the kettle is suspended. Rush mats, neatly sewn 
 and supported upon a bee-hive-like structure of 
 poles, serve well to protect from the storms of sum 
 mer and the blasts of winter. A hole at the summit 
 permits a large part of the smoke to escape, but 
 some remains and tortures the eyes. The wrinkled 
 faces of the aged ones show exposure to the sun of 
 summer and smoke of winter. The lack of neatness 
 indicates no advance in hygienic knowledge there 
 are almost no signs of advancement. The love for 
 
 343 
 
344 
 
 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 ornaments is shown by beads which hang from ears 
 and neck, and that are sewn upon the moccasins, 
 upon the skirts of the women and upon the belts 
 worn by the men. 
 
 About three hundred and fifty of these people yet 
 remain. They till the soil for corn as they tilled it 
 when first met by the traders. Their foods are 
 the same as then. Although mills are near, the 
 corn is ground by pounding in a wooden mortar. 
 Maple sugar of their own make is their greatest 
 luxury. They repel the spirit of progress. Their 
 conservatism will be their death. The fate that 
 must overtake the native tribes may prove a kindness 
 to them; yet how sad, and to us how keen the sting 
 of conscience. 
 
 I told those around the fire with me the story of 
 the destruction of the several branches of the Fox 
 tribe, at Detroit, at the river in Wisconsin that now 
 bears their name, and at the fatal hill where a mass 
 ive boulder marks the place of starvation and tor 
 ture. 
 
 The Fox tribe has adopted for its use a writing 
 consisting of English script letters, with some modi 
 fications and additions. An example of this script 
 is furnished me by a descendant of the tribe, Mr. 
 William Jones, educated at Harvard and now con 
 nected with the American Museum of Natural His 
 tory of the City of New York. It is a translation 
 into the Fox language of the inscription on the 
 stone recently placed on Maramech Hill. As will be 
 seen by the interlineations, retranslations into Eng 
 lish, the Fox method of translation differs greatly 
 from ours. 
 
THE INSCRIPTION ON THE BOULDER TRANSLATED INTO THE Fox 
 
 LANGUAGE AND SHOWN IN THE Fox SCRIPT, WITH 
 
 RETRANSLATION INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 Here this at the stockade 
 
 I ^ ^c 4e & t^K^ cc/c* fa . 
 
 is the place where they were besieged the 
 
 Red-Earths. Three hundred they num- 
 
 . >^-L ^C^< ^4. "H U o 5-c\ c<. A>c*. 
 
 bered, Red-Earth warriors, 
 
 o 6</<: use*, OL/^ V . >ic< ftc. -o 
 
 their wives and also their 
 
 . -c c^ . cc c</>c ^i< Us c< 
 
 children there were 
 
 X w* -t^. cc x x 
 
 at the time. These French 
 
 and other 
 
 u/ a. fii* - i^~t f^ 
 
 P e P le thirteen hundred 
 
 4. 
 
 they numbered 
 
 when they besieged them the Red-Earths\ 
 
 Aug. 17, 1730 was the time the 
 
 siege began here. then Sept. 8 was 
 
 when they escaped the Ked-Earths when 
 
 they were captured when they were tortured 
 
 o. o 6t/ ^ : y: 
 when they were slain. 
 
-t 
 
 French trenches were 
 
 on ttufhill whence the cold. 
 
 x i4*4c^cL << to t+,^<^.^ . c< 
 
 Ferland tells aoout it, rock, 
 
 in a book, History of Canada 
 
 ktLuZi-iL+ . ^t^ n &^ 
 
 it is called, two . miles 
 
 Us<. dec e ^ . cc & 
 
 whence the heat it is 
 
 w . df-IAs I -HC C< >r 
 
 that rock, but partly 
 
 <. o 
 hauled away it is. Near it is 
 
 Maramech, for such was the name of it 
 
 ti 
 
 town I68 4 he told of it Franque 
 
 -c vu 7^ . .44 6<XL vCi & Kf u 
 
 lin town; map 
 
 in a book 
 NOTE. Dots separate words. Crosses separate sentences. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 345 
 
 Upon the ribbed framework of the lodge of Chief 
 Pu-ci-to-nig-wa hung the medicine-bags of the chief 
 and those of the adult male members of his family. 
 Of smoke-browned leather and old, they seemed 
 much like the skin of a mummy. Each, to its pos 
 sessor, was priceless. Each contained the mascot 
 of a brave, an eagle s claw, perhaps, a stone, a 
 shell, and what not. The mascot was whatever the 
 possessor had dreamed of in youth, when fasting in 
 order that he might dream and thus hold commu 
 nion with the Great Spirit; a memento of what he 
 first dreamed that is what he held precious. 
 
 More than this, the medicine-bags contained the 
 mementoes of generations, and each thing contained 
 was a reminder of some event long almost forgotten. 
 
 When I had read from rusty French volumes, 
 printed before his great-grandfather was born, the 
 sad stories that their traditions but echo, the chief 
 said to his counsellors: "How like the red man s 
 medicine-bag! The rusty leather-covered book 
 seems to be so full of sacred memories." 
 
 I have since listened to their traditions, mixtures 
 of fact, fiction, and fable, of victories and defeats, 
 and of their almost total destruction, but gather 
 nothing fully corroborative of any one event men 
 tioned in the French records. In my efforts to get 
 the story of their last great struggle, I found but one 
 which to any extent seems to have any possible 
 reference to any part of the affair on Maramech 
 Hill. 
 
 "Once upon a time," it runs, "when the Foxes 
 were living north of the Wisconsin river, a child 
 was born and they named him Wa-pa-sai-ya, the 
 
346 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 name meaning the white buckskin. He was rest 
 less, as a child, and as a youth quarrelsome. He 
 delighted in torturing his comrades, but because of 
 his marked abilities was a leader among them. 
 When he became a man and people from other 
 tribes came to visit his village, he would often say, 
 The dogs will have something to eat to-day. He 
 would tell those who were entertaining the visitors 
 to feed them well and later have them brought to 
 him. Some he would kill, and would let others go 
 home with fingers, nose, and ears cut off. By and 
 by his people said, among themselves, that such 
 things must stop. It is wrong so to treat our friends 
 from other tribes, and, besides, we do not know but 
 they will come upon us in retaliation. So some of 
 the principal men went to Wa-pa-sai-ya and said to 
 him: We want you to be our chief, and he replied: 
 Just one more time will I treat those people that 
 same old way. At the time this was going on there 
 were war parties setting out, and he often accom 
 panied them, even though they did not wish him to; 
 and when they would again ask him not to go out he 
 would reply as before, Just one more time; I will go 
 out on just one more war raid. * It soon resulted 
 that the neighboring tribes became much angered 
 because of the treatment received from the White 
 Buckskin. Among the people who suffered most 
 were the French soldiers. The Frenchmen came 
 and gave arms to the surrounding nations, and by 
 
 * With the Fox tribe the chief must be a man of peace, and 
 these people offering the chieftainship did so in order that, by 
 the laws of the tribe, he, as chief, would be compelled to cease 
 his aggressions. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 347 
 
 and by the French soldiers came against the Foxes. 
 Before the fighting began the French held a parley 
 with Wa-pa-sai-ya and wanted him to stop all his 
 cruelties and agree to several things, such as keep 
 ing peace with other tribes; but he would not con 
 sent to anything. 
 
 "The efforts of the French officers resulted only 
 in making him defiant. He bade them come in any 
 numbers, but failed to make them fully understand 
 the contempt he felt for their soldiers and their 
 methods of warfare. To make them know his 
 defiant attitude which words, through the inter 
 preter, had failed to express, he stuck a number of 
 sticks in the ground, in a row, to represent the num 
 ber of warriors he was willing to pit against the 
 French, and then placed many times more sticks, 
 opposite the first, to represent the number of 
 Frenchmen his few chosen warriors were willing to 
 battle with; but the officers refused to accept his 
 challenge and only said: We will attack you, and 
 Wa-pa-sai-ya replied :\ Go ahead when you want 
 to/ The French retired to their camp and, after 
 consultation, advanced against the Foxes in great 
 numbers. The Foxes saw them coming from a long 
 way off and made an ambush and defeated the 
 French and drove them back. Wa-pa-sai-ya killed 
 the prisoners he had taken, all but one, to whom he 
 said: Go back to your people and tell them to come 
 in greater numbers than before, when they again 
 want to come against me. You will live to deliver 
 this message and then die. The Frenchman went 
 back and did as he had been told, and, sure enough, 
 then died. The French did come in greater num- 
 
348 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 bers, and were again defeated by the Foxes. The 
 French, then fearing that they could make no more 
 headway against the Foxes, got all of their friends, 
 the warriors of the other tribes, to help them; they 
 came from every direction, from all the nations, and 
 fought the Foxes. By and by they crowded the 
 Foxes into their defenses and surrounded them. 
 Soon after Wa-pa-sai-ya became tired of fighting 
 and broke his own bow and those his friends gave 
 him. Then his people said to him: What is the 
 matter with you? Why do you stop fighting? You 
 should remember that you are the one who brought 
 all this trouble upon us. We told you it was not 
 right to mistreat guests, and that you might have to 
 suffer for all this, but you would not listen to us; 
 now, in the midst of this war, you want to stop 
 fighting when we need you most ; but he would not 
 listen. Now, with the enemy, was a Mascoutin, and 
 this Mascoutin had a son, and this son had a dream 
 one night. He told the dream to his father, saying: 
 I dreamed that I captured Wa-pa-sai-ya. Well, 
 is that so? said the father. Then he went and got a 
 drum and told his son to strike it. When this was 
 done the father said: Draw a picture of Wa-pa- 
 sai-ya on the drum-head and strike it. The son hit 
 the drum as he was told. He was bidden to hit it 
 again, and the head burst. It is true, said the 
 father, the dream will come true; that test has 
 proved it. Then the son joined the other warriors. 
 By and by he returned and brought Wa-pa-sai-ya 
 with him as a prisoner, and tied him to a tree. The 
 father went out to see what all of the noise was 
 about. He saw Wa-pa-sai-ya tied to the tree and 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 349 
 
 mistook him for his son, as the son and Wa-pa-sai-ya 
 looked much alike; and so the father had the 
 prisoner set free and took him up to his lodge and 
 there fed him. When Wa-pa-sai-ya had eaten, the 
 father gave him two wives; but after a while the 
 father learned that it was Wa-pa-sai-ya, and had him 
 tied to the tree again. While they were preparing 
 to bind him the people asked him, Who was it that 
 killed our chief, and when? He replied, It was 
 one of my friends, in the last big fight we had, and 
 as he hit your chief on the head it was like hitting a 
 dog on the head and making him howl. Then they 
 tied Wa-pa-sai-ya to the tree again. The Mascoutin 
 said to him: Are you hungry, Wa-pa-sai-ya? And 
 the victim said he was. At that the Mascoutin cut 
 a slice from the thigh of Wa-pa-sai-ya, cooked it on 
 the coals of the fire and gave it to him to eat. 
 When he had finished eating it the Mascoutin again 
 said: Are you still hungry, Wa-pa-sai-ya? Yes, 
 of course I am, said the victim. Then the Mas 
 coutin cut a slice from the calf of Wa-pa-sai-ya s 
 leg, cooked it and gave it to Wa-pa-sai-ya, and he 
 ate it. They repeated the cutting out of slices, 
 cooking them and feeding him until the flesh was 
 all gone and only the bones remained, hanging 
 together, tied to the tree. Then fire was placed 
 under the bones, and thereupon the Mascoutin chief 
 came up and, as the fire was kindled, said to the 
 bones of Wa-pa-sai-ya: Now, Wa-pa-sai-ya, you 
 shall burn, and at some future time your town and 
 people shall burn. When this was said the tree to 
 which the victim s bones were tied turned round in 
 its place, as a sign, but the bones remained un- 
 
350 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 moved. While the tree was turning, a voice came 
 from the bones saying, I shall burn, and your town 
 shall burn. Some one pushed the Mascoutin chief 
 and he almost fell into the fire, and see-med restrained 
 there as by some mysterious force; help was needed 
 to put him on his feet again he almost died there. 
 
 "A little while afterward the Foxes fell upon the 
 Mascoutins, killed nearly all and burned the town, 
 and that is why there are so few Mascoutins to-day.* 
 
 "Thus was the prophecy fulfilled, and thus the 
 people were made to know that Wa-pa-sai-ya was 
 supernatural; being a Manitou, he passed above, 
 and the bright star in the great white river overhead 
 is he. 
 
 "Soon after this the nations again came and 
 united against the Foxes, and the fighting became 
 hard and incessant. Then the old men said to the 
 young men: Let us old men go out and do the 
 fighting; we have not long to live and we can well 
 spare the rest of our time wearing the enemy out; 
 let them waste part of their strength on us. You 
 stay here and take care of the women and children 
 and fight when it comes your turn, and that will be 
 when all the old men are killed off. Every time 
 the old men withdrew they returned fewer in num 
 bers, and at last all were killed. Then the fighting 
 fell upon the young men. It was about the time 
 when the corn was ripening in the fields. Among 
 the Foxes was a young man who fasted and dreamed, 
 and he dreamed that he was blest by the Great 
 
 * This part of the tradition may be considered as a sugges 
 tion that the lost tribe of the Illinois and Wisconsin prairies 
 was destroyed, or at least depleted, by the Foxes. 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 
 
 Spirit, and he said to the people: I am going to 
 make the enemy sleep, and so saying he sang and 
 beat upon a drum. At once the weather grew cold 
 and snow began to fall. The enemy went into their 
 tents and slept soundly, and out of the stockade 
 went the Foxes. They went in two directions, one 
 part to the north and the other to the east. Those 
 who went to the east were women and children, 
 with a force of young men to protect them. They 
 followed a young man who drew a strip of rawhide 
 behind him to make a trail for them to follow. 
 When they came to a high place they built a fort. 
 
 "The party that passed to the north was made up of 
 a force of young men who made a big, broad trail 
 in the snow in order to draw the enemy after them 
 and thus keep the women and children out of dan 
 ger and give them time to build a fort. As was 
 expected, the large trail was discovered and alarm 
 raised in the camp of the enemy. They are flee 
 ing! They are fleeing! they shouted, and came upon 
 the Fox warriors in full force. The Foxes held 
 them back until they thought the women had had 
 time to build another fort, and then gave way and 
 joined their friends in the new stockade. Then the 
 enemy came again, and were beaten back. The 
 Foxes scattered, and the small parties were pursued 
 by the enemy. Most were captured, but many 
 escaped." 
 
 In this mixture of myths and facts only a few 
 points of similarity with the accounts left by the 
 French can be found. We learn that most of the 
 neighboring tribes were against the Foxes. The 
 Foxes were in a stockaded defense when last 
 
352 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 attacked. They held parleys with the French. 
 "It was about the time the corn was ripening in the 
 fields." It became very cold. The Foxes escaped 
 in the night, in two parties, and went in two direc 
 tions, one to the north, the tradition says (but, as 
 previously stated, I believe the direction to have 
 been northeast) and were overtaken upon the hill a 
 mile away, where so many arrow-heads marked the 
 place of some great event. "Most were captured, 
 but many escaped." The French accounts say that 
 those who escaped were a few old women, and they 
 without supplies. 
 
 Only the traditions, nourished by the remaining 
 Foxes, tell them of the wanderings of their ances 
 tors after the disastrous siege of 1730. Notwith 
 standing the frequent returns by the hunting parties 
 to the hunting-grounds, the place of defeat became 
 lost to them. When the great Sac warrior, Black 
 Hawk, chief by common approval, but not by elec 
 tion, strove to repossess the hunting-grounds and 
 fields, having Saukenuk as their center, a few Foxes 
 joined the Sacs and Pottawatomies against the 
 whites. 
 
 Leaving the stormy council held on the Sycamore 
 creek, Shaubena and Waubansie, friends of the 
 whites, sought their respective villages. They had 
 not succeeded in convincing Black Hawk of the 
 hopelessness of his undertaking. He had refused 
 to recross the Mississippi to the new grounds 
 allotted to his tribe. Shaubena had not succeeded 
 in holding all of the young warriors of his tribe in 
 check, and was spurred by his humane sentiments to 
 warn all the settlers within his reach of the coming 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 353 
 
 storm. Arriving at his village, on his reservation, 
 he sent his son, Pypogee, and also his nephew, 
 Pyps, to give warning to the whites who, like the 
 Miamis, a century and a half before, had chosen for 
 their home the five prairies that radiate from the 
 site of ancient Maramech. Down the Kishwaukee 
 Trail, over Maramech Hill, where a scar of the trail 
 still remains, and onward over the ford where the 
 east-and-west ancient trail, mapped in in 1680, 
 crosses, with panting steeds they sped on their errand 
 of mercy. A detachment of Black Hawk s band 
 arrived only to find themselves too late. The 
 whites had fled, and the disappointed warriors 
 vowed vengeance on Shaubena. But for the warn 
 ing, a score of settlers would have been slain, some 
 within hearing of a rifle-shot from the ancient fort 
 upon the hill. But a dozen miles away a half score 
 or more, who had scoffed at the warning, met 
 death. 
 
 So closed the last scene in the tragedy of savage 
 life. The curtain dropped to again be raised only 
 for the drama of civilized life. 
 
 In the middle fifties an aged Indian, straight as 
 an arrow, with a one-horse wagon and squaw of 
 width to almost fill it when seated, crept northward 
 over the road that, when a mere trail, had been 
 traveled by the French in going by land from Fort 
 St. Louis to Chicago. He turned therefrom to fol 
 low up the "Little River," as called in the early 
 military reports. This last representative of our 
 local tribes was Shaubena with his squaw. The 
 road cleft in the side of the hill that skirts the 
 stream had not yet been made. The old trail over 
 
354 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 the hill, not prepared for wheeled vehicles, so wound 
 among the trees and dropped so abruptly to the 
 north that he was forced to take a newer road, made 
 by the whites. Hence it was only across the swamp 
 that he saw the hill so fatal to the Foxes. He 
 passed within a stonethrow of the site of De Villiers 
 little fort and onward to the new village of Piano, 
 where he exchanged furs for necessities. For a 
 time he camped near the head of the cool stream 
 that, miles below, bathes the foot of Maramech Hill. 
 Since then the eyes of no red man have rested 
 upon the scene of alternate storm and calm. 
 
Shaubena, a Pottawattomy Chief. 
 A friend to the whites. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 The question as to the origin of the name of our 
 great city of the west has often been raised, but 
 never in a manner so novel as by the author of 
 Reminiscences of Early Chicago^ in whose interest 
 ing book we find what purports to be an extract 
 from a letter written by La Salle to a friend in 
 France: "Were I to give this place a name, I would 
 derive it from the nature of the place and the nature 
 of the man who will occupy this place: ago, I act; 
 circum, all around Circago." I do not find any 
 thing like this in any of the writings of La Salle, 
 and believe that I have a copy of every scratch of 
 La Salle s pen that did not perish with him. If he 
 ever did propose the name, he did not use it, for we 
 find him using the name given to the stream by the 
 Algonquin tribes, the meaning of which is stated by 
 Cadillac, an officer in command at Mackinaw and 
 other places, who wrote in 1695 or perhaps a little 
 later: "The post of Chigagou comes next [in going 
 westward]. The word signifies the river of the 
 onion, because it [the onion] is there produced 
 naturally without any care, in great quantities." 
 
 Knowing what he is seeking one may, in early 
 harvest time, see the prairies about the Chicago and 
 Des Plaines rivers given a pale pink hue by the 
 blossom of the plant that gave the river its name, 
 which name was often also applied to the Des 
 
 355 
 
356 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 Plaincs. In the Fox dialect of the Algonquin lan 
 guage, the skunk is known by a name very similar, 
 the difference being but slight. It is not strange 
 that the animal and plant received names one so like 
 the other, for it was an Indian custom to give names 
 that accorded with the characteristics of the object. 
 Whether the word originally meant merely a bad 
 smell, or a skunk, or an onion, does not matter, for 
 if either, all is clear. Low, flat, and wet prairies do 
 not produce skunks, but do breed crawfishes and 
 wild onions, and the river now rendered nauseous 
 by the sewage of a great city, was then a clear 
 stream and not deserving a name indicating an odor 
 not pleasant. 
 
 Allouez, 1680 (Margry, II., 95), uses descriptive 
 words when speaking of the region: "The prairies 
 . . . being wet all the time." 
 
 La Salle, late in 1681, wrote: "And all my people 
 who, having marched three days along the lake and 
 gained the portage called Chicagou, were waiting," 
 etc., and in the letter repeats the name twelve 
 times. In the same letter he says: "The land there 
 produces naturally a quantity of roots good to eat, 
 as wild ognons [onions]," and he also refers to the 
 garlic. 
 
 Father Membre wrote of Chicagou in 1683. 
 (Margry, II., 206.) 
 
 La Salle wrote a letter to La Barre, then Governor 
 of Canada, beginning: " Du portage de Chicagou, 4 
 Juin, 1683" (Margry, II., 317.) 
 
 Le Clercq (First Establishment of the Faith, Shea s 
 translation, II., 162) says: "On the 2ist of Decem 
 ber I embarked with Sieur de Tonty and a part 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 357 
 
 of our people on Lake Dauphin [Michigan], to 
 go to the divine river, called by the Indians Che- 
 cagou, in order to make the necessary arrangements 
 for our voyage. The Sieur de La Salle joined us 
 there with the rest of the troop on the 4th of Jan 
 uary, 1682." 
 
 Tonty, in his memoir (Historical Collections of 
 Louisiana, I., 65), says: "We arrived about the end 
 of June, 1682, at the river Chicagou." 
 
 Tonty, in his Relation dated November 14, 1684 
 (Margry, II., 251), says: "After we had drawn our 
 equipage seventy leagues, namely, twenty, on the 
 river of Chicago [Des Plaines]," etc. (The date 
 given is 1683, evidently a slip of the pen.) 
 
 Late in 1687 Joutel anc ^ others "arrived at Chi 
 cagou on the 29th of March," from La Salle s ill- 
 fated settlement in Texas. 
 
 La Salle wrote in 1680 (Margry, II., 82): "It was 
 therefore necessary, at the end of the lake, where 
 navigation is ended, at the place called Chicagou, 
 to pack close the things that they had brought in 
 the boats, and transport them to the canoes two 
 leagues from there [to the Des Plaines river]." 
 
 Father Gravier, writing in 1698, says: " He, as 
 well as Father Pinet, at Chicagwa, will do them 
 selves the pleasure of rendering them any kind of 
 service." (Jesuit Relations, LXV., 61.) Father 
 Pinet s mission was then with the branch of the 
 Miami tribe whose village presumably it was that 
 was located where so many relics have been found, 
 on the north branch of the Chicago river. 
 
 We learn from the father that the malarial fevers 
 ("fever and ague" of our own early times) were 
 
358 LOST MARAMECH 
 
 contracted by the people of the prairies, both 
 natives and whites. 
 
 The natives resorted to all sorts of remedies for 
 diseases, and sometimes attempted to propitiate the 
 god or the demon that was responsible for the ill 
 ness of a comrade by sacrifices, and sometimes 
 thought to interest the god or demon by playing 
 some of their most interesting games for his bene 
 fit, for instance, the game of ball. Reports have 
 reached us that those efforts were eminently suc 
 cessful. 
 
 The efforts later made by the early fathers seemed 
 to have been equally successful. The following is 
 found in Father Guignas account. He left Chika- 
 goua (Chicago) in 1700 for New Orleans, and wrote: 
 
 "I found an excellent remedy to cure our French 
 of their fevers. I promised God jointly with Peter 
 de Bonne, who had a violent tertian fever for a con 
 siderable time, to recite for nine days prayers in 
 honor of Father Francis Regis, whose relics I have, 
 which I applied to him in the height of his fever, 
 when it ceased suddenly, and he had no more of it 
 after that time. After my novena I resumed my 
 reliquary, which I hung around the neck of Louis 
 de Hemme of Riviere du Loup, with whom I began 
 a second novena, and from the first day the fever left 
 him; and having taken off my reliquary the fourth 
 or fifth day of the novena to hang it on the neck of 
 one by name Augustine la Pointe of Cote St. Michel 
 in Canada, who had already had two or three attacks 
 of fever, it took De Hemme again, who feeling him 
 self cured, had said that he was not afraid of being 
 sick with that reliquary always hung around his 
 
AND EARLIEST CHICAGO 359 
 
 neck, and as soon as I took it off the fever came 
 back and did not leave him till after the novena, 
 and La Pointe was cured perfectly from the first day 
 that I hung my reliquary around his neck, which I 
 did not remove till the novena was completed. And 
 at this moment Pierre Chabot of Isle Orleans, who 
 had the fever for more than six months, having hung 
 it on his neck, the third day of the novena that 
 stubborn fever diminished and he was entirely rid of 
 it at the end of the novena. A small piece of 
 Father Regis hat, which one of our domestics gave 
 me, is the most infallible remedy that I can have to 
 cure all kinds of fevers." 
 
 Many, since the death of Father Guignas, yet 
 live who can say that the malarial fevers incident to 
 the low lands around both ancient and modern Chi 
 cago were never as easily cured by the white phy 
 sician and his remedies. 
 
Appendix 
 
 PARIS DOCUMENTS 
 
 The larger part of the following documents were copied for 
 me from the archives of the Minister of Marine, at Paris, by 
 Prof. Charles M. Andrist. The documents are reproduced 
 verbatim as far as possible, accompanied by translations. It 
 is believed that, except those found in the Wisconsin His 
 torical Collection, none has before been published. 
 
 REPORTS 
 Fox Savages 
 
 [Of the 6th of May, 1630.] 
 
 M. le Marq. de Beauharnois a marqu6 qu un party de 200 
 sauvages surpis 20 cabannes des Renards et qu il avoit este 
 massacre ou brule 80 hommes et 300 femmes et enfans, ne 
 s etaint sauve que trois hommes. Que depuis cette aventure 
 le grand chef des Renards avoit este trouve le commandant 
 francais a la Riviere St. Joseph pour demander misericorde et 
 qu il devoit descendre pour cela a Montreal aimant mieux 
 courir les risques d estre tue en chemin que dans son village. 
 
 Que 1 entreprise faite centre eux en 1728 a fait tant d impres- 
 sion dans 1 esprit des autres nations, qu elles se maintiendront 
 dans le party des francais et continueront la guerre contre les 
 Renards. 
 
 TRANSLA TION: 
 
 Le Marc de Beauharnois has noted that a party of two hun 
 dred savages surprised twenty cabins (tepees) of the Foxes, 
 and that there has been massacred or burned eighty men and 
 three hundred women and children, only three men having got 
 ten away. That since that adventure the Grand Chief of the 
 Foxes had been to see the French Commandant at the River 
 
 361 
 
362 APPENDIX 
 
 St. Joseph in order to beg for mercy, and that he had to 
 descend for that to Montreal, preferring rather to run the risk 
 of being killed on the road than in the village. That the 
 enterprise undertaken against them in 1728 had made such an 
 impression upon the minds of the other nations that they will 
 now keep on the side of the French and continue the war 
 against the Foxes. 
 
 [Of the 25th of June, 1630.] 
 
 Le Dubuisson commandant a Missilimakinic luy avoit donne" 
 avis que toutes les nations des pays d enhaut estoient si fort 
 animus centre les Renards, qu un corps de sauvages assez 
 considerable 1 avoit prie de se mettre a leur tete pour tomber 
 sur les Renards; qu il 1 avoit accepte et qu il estait party avec 
 600 sauvages et 20 francais. 
 
 TRANSLA TION: 
 
 Le Dubuisson, Commandant at Missilimakinac, had advised 
 him that all the nations of the upper country were so embit 
 tered against the Foxes that quite a large body of savages had 
 begged him to place himself at their head in order to fall upon 
 the Foxes ; that he had accepted, and that he had departed 
 with six hundred savages and twenty Frenchmen. 
 
 [Of the i8th of October, 1730.] 
 
 Mrs. de Beauharnois et Hocquart marquent que les raisons 
 qui ont engage le Dubuisson dans cette demarche leur font 
 penser qu il ne sera pas desaprouv6 d autant plus que le bien 
 du service et la necessite qu il y avoit d en imposer aux nations 
 sur les discours desavantageux qu elles tenoient du peu de 
 succes de la Campagne de 1728 le demandait. 
 
 II est vray qu il n a pas reussy dans cette entreprise quoy 
 qu il ait aporte" toute 1 aplication et le zele qu on pouvait atten- 
 dre mais les Renards estaient decampez de leur fort avant son 
 arriv6e. II les a meme pour suivy pendant quelques jours 
 inutilement. 
 
 La depense qu il a faite en cette occasion pourra monter a ce 
 qu il leur a marquS a 2 ou 3 M . Us en envoyeront 1 estat 
 I ann6e prochaine. Cependant afin qu aucun autre comman 
 dant ne tombe pas dans le meme cas. M. de Beauharnois a 
 ecrit a tous les commandants des postes de ne point accepter 
 de pareilles propositions de la par des sauvages sans recevoir 
 
APPENDIX 363 
 
 auparavant ses ordres. II a pareillement deffendu de traitter 
 ny armes ny munitions tant aux Renards qu a leurs allies dans 
 le nombre desquels sont particulierement les Sakis. Us 
 ajoutent que cette derniere tentative du Sr. le Dubuisson a 
 existe denouveau dans 1 esprit des nations la defaite entiere 
 des Renards ; Les Sioux qui ne s estoient pas jusqu a present 
 declares ont frappe dessus et en ont tue douze; Ainsy il y a 
 aparence qu ils saffoibliront de maniere qu ils [ne pourront 
 plus se relever et qu on assurera par ce moyen la tranquilite 
 des pays d enhant sans qu il soit besoin dorenavant d autres 
 secours que des sauvages memes que M. de Beauharnois con- 
 tinuera d entretenir dans ces dispositions jusqu a ce que les 
 Renards soient entierement detruits ou qu ils soient soumis 
 aux conditions prescrittes s ils demandait la paix. 
 
 TRANSLA TION: 
 
 Messrs, de Beauharnois and Hocquart note that the reasons 
 which have induced le Dubuisson in this move makes them 
 think that he will not be censured, the more so as the good of 
 the service demanded it, and the necessity that there was of 
 overawing the nations for the slighting remarks which they 
 made about the lack of success of the Company of 1728. 
 
 It is true that he did not succeed in that enterprise, although 
 he devoted all the application and zeal which could be 
 expected, but the Foxes had decamped from their fort before 
 his arrival. He even pursued them uselessly for several days. 
 
 The expenses which he had on this occasion will amount to 
 what he noted to them, to two or three M . They will send 
 the account of it the next year. However, in order that no 
 other commandant may fall in the same error, M. de Beauhar 
 nois has written to all the commandants of the posts to not 
 accept such propositions on the part of the savages, without 
 first receiving orders from him. He has likewise forbidden to 
 furnish either arms or munitions to the Foxes and their allies 
 in the number of which are particularly the Saks. They add 
 that this last attempt of M. le Dubuisson has revived anew in 
 the minds of the nations the complete defeat of the Foxes. 
 The Sioux, who up to the present had not declared themselves, 
 attacked them and killed twelve. Thus there is an appearance 
 that they will become enfeebled, so much so that they will not 
 
364 APPENDIX 
 
 be able to recover, and by these means the tranquillity of the 
 upper country will be assured, without any further need of 
 other assistance than the savages themselves, whom M. le 
 Beauharnois will continue to keep in that disposition until the 
 Foxes are entirely destroyed, or have submitted to the condi 
 tions prescribed, if they ask for peace. 
 
 [Of the loth of October, 1730.] 
 
 Le Marqs. de Beauharnois envoye la copie d une lettre que 
 luy a ecrit le Commandant du Detroit le 22 Aoust, 1730: 
 
 II en resulte que deux sauvages Mascoutins arriv6s a la 
 Riviere St. Joseph ou commande le Sr. de Villiers ont raporte* 
 que les Renards se battoient avec les Ilinois entre le Rocher 
 et les Ouyatanons, que les puants, Mascoutins et Quiquapoux 
 s estaient joints aux Ilinois et avoient tombe sur les Renards 
 qui se trouverent par ce moyen enfermez des deux costes mais 
 dans le moment que les puants les Mascoutins et Quiquipoux 
 attaquoient les Renards compants que les Ilinois leur feroient 
 face de 1 autre coste, ceux cy prirent la fuite. II y a eu dans 
 cette gr attaque 6 puants blessez et un tue. II a este tue aussy 
 deux Quiquapoux de la Riviere St. Joseph qui estoient etablis 
 parmi les Sakis, ce qui fera un bon effet parceque cela les a 
 anime centre des Renards et il s en fallait beaucoup qu ils ne 
 le fussent auparavant. II y a eu aussi plusieurs Renards tues 
 ou blessez. 
 
 Les francais des Cahosquia ont reproche aux Ilinois qu ils 
 estoient des femmes et qu ils ne scavoient point se battre; qu a 
 leur egard ils alloient partir avec leurs Negres pour le joindre 
 aux sauvages et defaire les Renards ; ils forment deja un party 
 assez considerable. Car les Ilinois qui avoit fuyont rejoint, ils 
 ont fait des troux en terre pour se mettre a 1 abry et les 
 Renards sont dans un Islet de bois, si ils y restent il y a toute 
 aparence qu ils pouront este defaits, parceque les Sr. de Vil 
 liers devoit partir de la Riviere St. Joseph avec tous ses gens et 
 devoit en ecrire au commandement du detroit pour demander 
 le secours des ses sauvages, mais ces lettres ne luy sont point 
 encore arrivee et ses sauvages qui doutent ce cette nouvelle ne 
 veulent point partir que les lettres du Sr. de Villiers ne soient 
 arrivees on ne doit cependant point douter que ces nouvelles 
 ne soient veritables. Le Pere Messager, missionnaire a St. 
 
APPENDIX 365 
 
 Joseph, ayant ecrit a peu pres la meme chose a P. la Richardy, 
 missionnaire du detroit. Les puants du detroit parvissent 
 bien determinez a y aller, aussy bien qu une partie des Outases, 
 mais il y tres peu de Hurons par ce qu il en est reste 80 du 
 party qui avail marche le printemps dernier. II en est cepen- 
 dant arrive il y a huit jours qui ont aporte une Chevelure des 
 Chicachas, on espere que le reste des Hurons pourra rejoindre 
 et ce sera un bon renfort. 
 
 Les Renards ont dit qu ils attendoient un gros party d lro- 
 quois qui devait les joindre et leur accorder retraite. Us ont 
 petit estre tenu ces discours pour epouvanter les autres nations. 
 Cependant il est tres sur que les Iroquois a la sollicitation des 
 Anglais sement tous les jours des colliers qui nous sont tres 
 prejudiciables. Canada, Correspondance Ghi&rale, 1731, Vol. 
 L VI, p. 321. 
 
 [Here begins a chapter on the Sioux.] 
 
 TRANSLA TION: 
 
 The Marquis de Beauharnois sends the copy of a letter which 
 the Commandant of Detroit had written him August 22, 1730: 
 
 It appears that two Mascoutin savages who came to the River 
 St. Joseph where M. de Villiers commanded, reported that the 
 Foxes were fighting with the Illinois between the Rock and 
 the Ouatonons, that the Puants, Muscoutines and Kickapoos 
 had joined the Illinois and had fallen upon the Foxes, who 
 found themselves by this move hemmed in on both sides, but 
 at the moment when the Puants, the Muscatines and Kicka 
 poos attacked, expecting the Illinois to face them on the other 
 side, the latter fled. There were in that great attack six 
 Puants wounded and one killed ; there were also killed two 
 Kickapoos of the River St. Joseph, who were established 
 among the Saks, which will produce a good effect, because 
 that will excite them against the Foxes, and it lacked but little 
 before. There were also several Foxes killed or wounded. 
 
 The French of the Cahosquia reproached the Illinois, saying 
 that they were women and did not know how to fight ; that, as 
 for themselves, they were going to leave with their negroes to 
 join the savages and defeat the Foxes ; they already form quite 
 a large party, for the Illinois, who had fled, joined them. 
 They made holes in the ground in order to get under cover, 
 
3 66 APPENDIX 
 
 and the Foxes are in a little islet of wood. If they remain 
 there, there is every appearance that they will be defeated, 
 since M. de Villiers was to leave the River St. Joseph with all 
 his men, and was to write of it to the Commandant at Detroit, 
 to ask him for the assistance of his savages, but these letters 
 have not yet reached him, and his savages, who doubt this 
 news, do not wish to depart because the letters from M. de 
 Villiers have not arrived. There should be no doubt, however, 
 but that this news is true, Le Pere, Missionary Messenger at 
 St. Joseph, having written about the same thing to P. la 
 Richardy, Missionary at Detroit. The Puants, of Detroit, 
 appear very much determined to go, as well as a party of the 
 Outeses, but there were very few Hurons, because there 
 remained eighty from the party which had marched last 
 spring. There arrived, however, some eight days ago, [one] 
 who brought a scalp from the Chicasaws. It is hoped that the 
 remainder of the Hurons will be able to join, and that will 
 make a good re enforcement. The Foxes said that they were 
 expecting a large party of Iroquois, which was to join them 
 and offer them refuge. They perhaps have [said] these things 
 in order to frighten the other nations. However, it is very 
 sure the Iroquois, at the instigation of the English, send every 
 day beads, which will be very harmful to us. 
 
 [The preceding are analyses of letters written by M. le Mar 
 quis de Beauharnois to M. de Maurepas, Minister of the 
 Marine. The original letters do not exist, simply the analyses, 
 made by a clerk employed in the Ministry.] 
 
 New Expedition against the Foxes 
 
 [The Marquis de Beauharnois s letter to the Minister, June 25, 
 1730, relates to a new expedition against the Foxes:] 
 
 My Lord: The Sieur de Buisson, who commands at Macki 
 naw, has dispatched to me a canoe from_there, with advice that 
 all the nations of the upper country were very much excited 
 against the Foxes ; that a considerable body of Indians had 
 collected and requested him to place himself at their head, to 
 fall upon the nation, and destroy it entirely. He states that 
 he thought best not to refuse, inasmuch as their proposition 
 tended toward the peace of the colony, and it was very neces- 
 
APPENDIX 367 
 
 sary to take the step to overcome the Indians and cut short 
 their remarks against the French, concerning our little suc 
 cess in the last campaign against the Foxes. 
 
 This officer, My Lord, must have left his post the 2oth of last 
 May, with six hundred men, among whom were fifty French 
 men. We have unfortunately no further account of this expe 
 dition of De Buisson. 
 
 I have the honor to send you hereunto annexed the extract 
 from a letter, written to me by the Sieur Marin, who com 
 manded at the Folle-Avoins, concerning the movement he 
 made last March, against the Foxes, with the Indians of this 
 post, through their solicitations, as you will see in the details 
 of this adventure or action, which was of the warmest charac 
 ter, and very well supported. This officer informs me that he 
 was present at the council held at Mackinaw, when the Indians 
 invited Monsieur de Buisson to place himself at their head, 
 and that a few of the Folle-Avoins who were there also pre 
 sented to him the tomahawk (as is customary on similar occa 
 sions), to invite him to be one of the expedition. Monsieur 
 Marin must have gone with the Sieur de Buisson. I expect 
 news from their expedition before the last of July, of which I 
 will have the honor of informing you immediately. I have 
 also the honor of being, with great respect, your very humble 
 and obedient servant, BEAUHARNOIS. 
 
 Montreal, June 25, 1730. 
 
 TRANSLA TION: 
 
 Sieur de Villiers Defeats the Foxes 
 [Messieurs Beauharnois and Hocquart s letter to the Minister, 
 Nov. 2, 1730:] 
 
 My Lord: The Sieur Colon de Villiers, son of Sieur de 
 Villiers, commanding at the River St. Joseph, has just arrived, 
 dispatched by his father, to bring us the interesting news of 
 the almost total defeat of the Foxes ; two hundred of their war- 
 liors being killed on the spot, or burned after having been 
 taken as slaves, and six hundred women and children were 
 absolutely destroyed. This affair took place in September 
 under the command of De Villiers, to whom were united the 
 Sieur de Noyelle, commanding the Miamis, and the Sieur de 
 
3 68 APPENDIX 
 
 Saint Ange, father and sons, from the Government of Louisi 
 ana, with the French of that distant colony, together with 
 those of our post, and all the neighboring Indians, our allies; 
 we numbered from 1200 to 1300 men. The Marquis de Beau- 
 harnois will have, My Lord, the honor to send you a descrip 
 tion of the action, by the Sieur de Fevie s vessel, which will sail 
 in about eight or ten days. We risk this letter by vessel going 
 to Martinique, which may pass the Isle Royal. It was at the 
 point of starting that we learned this news. This is a brilliant 
 action, which sheds great honor on Sieur de Villiers, who 
 through it .may k flatter ^himself as having some share in your 
 friendship, and the honor of your protection in the promotion 
 which is to take place. 
 
 BEAUHARNOIS AND HOQUART. 
 
 [The above is quoted from the Wisconsin Historical Collec 
 tion, in which the editor says: "This boat was wrecked and 
 the dispatches returned to Beauharnois and Hoquart, among 
 the rest those regarding the last defeat of the Foxes."] 
 
 [Perrier, Governor of Louisiana, to De Maurepas, March 25, 
 
 J ay P honneur d informer Votre Grandeur de la defaite des 
 Renards sur les terres de la Louisianna par les Illinois et les 
 nations des frontieres du Canada. Nos sauvages se plaingnent 
 que ceux du Canada ont trop garde d esclaves qu ils denoient 
 tous les tuer comme ils ont fait, quelque bien quaillent les 
 affaires les sauvages ne [sont jamais content? ce que j ay pu 
 scavoir de plus positif par les Francais qui estoient a cette 
 Expedition c est qu on a tuez onze a douze cent renards, tant 
 hommes que femmcs et enfans? cette destruction fait un bien 
 infini a la Colonie de la Louisianne dont le progres estoit arrest6 
 par les courses continuelles que fasoient ces sauvages tant sur 
 les francois que sur les Illinois, a present ce pals va devinir 
 dautant plus fertile qu il sera peuple et mieux cultive. ce 
 quartier doit estre regarde comme un des plus important de 
 cette colonie, et il faut absolument que la Compagnie y entre- 
 tienne un grand estat-major. non seulement pour contenir 
 les sauvages mais les francois coureurs et libertins qui establis- 
 sent dans cet endroit hors de dessou les yeux des gouverneurs? 
 
APPENDIX 369 
 
 de plus le fleuve estant devenu libre par la destruction dec 
 natchez, thioux, yazous et corrois qui avaient resolu de det- 
 ruire les establissements des francois. de ces quatre nations 
 qui estoient sur le fleuve il n en reste pas quarante hommes qui 
 sont disperses pour esviter de tomber entre les mains des 
 autres nations qui j ai mis apres eux. 
 
 L expedition que je viens de faire, Monseigneur, prouve a 
 Votre Grandeur qu on a eu tort de lui insinuer que la guerre 
 contre les sauvages icy ne se pouvoit que par d autres sauvages 
 j ay pense le contraire depuis que je suis dans ce pays icy. 
 j ay esprouve depuis seize mois sans rien espargner que les 
 sauvages sont bons et a s entre escarmoucher et a lever quel- 
 ques cheveleures par cy par la mais incapable de pouvoir forcer 
 ni detruire une nation fortifiee. javoue que nous suffrirons 
 dans les premieres marches que nous ferons, mais rien n est 
 impossible au francais bien conduit il se fait peu a peu aux 
 marches les plus penibles quand il s agit de la gloire du Roy? 
 Les officiers et les soldats qui ont marche avec mon frere et moy 
 n estoient asseurement pas faits aux fatigues de ce pais icy. 
 Qui ont este le plus rude qu on ait veu depuis 30 ans. leur 
 zele, et leur emulation ne leur a fait faire aucune difference 
 entre le beau et le mauvais terns quand il s est agi d attaquer 
 1 ennemy. que nous avons trouve dans un pais jusqu a lors 
 inconnu a tous francois et mme a nos sauvages alliez dont 
 aucun na pu nous servir de guide, c est dans cette scitu- 
 ation si capable d abatre le courage le plus dur que les 
 officiers ont fait voir par leur example que rien n estoit 
 impossible aux Francais qui ne travaillent que pour la gloire 
 du Roy? 
 
 On a voulu egalement faire voire a Votre Grandeur que je la 
 trompais lorsque j avais 1 honneur de luy marquer qu il y avait 
 17 pieds d eau sur la barre du fleuve? je descend avec le 
 vaisseau, la Somne, pour faire faire un proces verbal de 
 1 entree du fleuve et je prend la liberte de dire a Votre Gran 
 deur qu il serait tres necessaire au progres de cette colonie 
 que le Roy envoya tous les ans un vaisseau dans le fleuve tant 
 pour estre asseure de 1 entree que pour rendre compte du succes 
 des differentes cultures et de 1 etat des fortresses? cette 
 colonie merite 1 attention de Votre Grandeur le fleuve est le 
 plus beau port que la France puisse avoir dans le Golfe. il ni 
 
370 APPENDIX 
 
 avoit que douze pieds d eau sur la barre quand je suis venu 
 dans ce pals icy. j y en ai mis 17 par le seul passage des 
 vaisseaux et naiant jamais eu ce qui m estoit necessaire pour y 
 travailler de suite, je fais rester deux navires de la compagnie 
 pendant huit jours sur la barre. Correspondance General >, 
 year 1731, Vol. XIII, Archives du Minis t^re des Colonies, 
 Paris. 
 
 TRANSLATION: 
 
 My Lord: I have the honor of informing Your Greatness 
 of the defeat of the Foxes upon the territory of Louisiana 
 by the Illinois and the Nations of the frontiers of Canada. 
 Our savages complain that those of Canada have kept too 
 many slaves, that they ought to kill them all, as they have 
 done. However well things go the savages are never con 
 tented. That which I have been able to learn the most 
 positive from the French, who were on that expedition, is that 
 they killed eleven or twelve hundred Foxes, men as well as 
 women and children! This destruction will do an infinite 
 amount of good to the Colony of Louisiana, whose progress 
 was arrested by the continual incursions which they made 
 upon the French as well as upon the Illinois. At present this 
 country is going to become all the more fertile as it will become 
 populous and better cultivated. This region must be regarded 
 as one of the most important of this Colony, and it is absolutely 
 necessary that the Company should maintain a great staff, not 
 only to keep the savages in check, but the roving and libertine 
 French who establish themselves in this section away from the 
 eyes of the Governors. Furthermore, the river has become 
 free by the destruction of the Natchez, Thioux, Yazous, and 
 Corrois, who had resolved to destroy the establishments of the 
 French. Of these four nations who were upon the river, there 
 does not remain forty men, who have dispersed in order to 
 avoid falling into the hands of the other nations whom I have 
 sent after them. 
 
 The expedition which I have just made, My Lord, proves to 
 Your Grandeur that folks were wrong in insinuating that the 
 war against the savages here could only be carried on by other 
 savages. I have thought the contrary ever since I have been 
 in this country. I have experienced, for sixteen months with 
 out sparing anything, that the savages are good to skirmish 
 
APPENDIX 371 
 
 against each other and to take off a few scalps here and there, 
 but incapable of being able to force or destroy a fortified 
 nation. I avow that we shall suffer in the first marches which 
 we make, but nothing is impossible to the Frenchman well led. 
 He accustoms himself, little by little, to the most difficult 
 marches when it is a question of the glory of the King ! The 
 officers and soldiers, who have marched with my brother and 
 me, were certainly not accustomed to the fatigues of this coun 
 try, which have been the most trying that have been seen for 
 thirty years. Their zeal and emulation caused them to make no 
 difference between the good and the bad weather when it was 
 a question of attacking the enemy who are found in a country 
 up to that time unknown to all French and even to our allied 
 savages, of which none could serve us as guide. It was in that 
 situation, so capable of striking down the courage of the most 
 hardy, that the officers showed by their example that nothing 
 was impossible to the French who only work for the glory of 
 the King ! 
 
 Folks also wished to show Your Grandeur that I was deceiv 
 ing him when I had the honor to inform him that there were 
 seventeen feet of water upon the bar of the river. I descended 
 with the vessel, the Somme, to have a report made of the 
 entrance of the river, and I take the liberty to say to Your 
 Grandeur that it would be very necessary for the progress of 
 this Colony that the King should send every year a ship into 
 the river, as much to be assured of the entrance as to take 
 account of the success of the different crops and the state of 
 the fortresses. This Colony merits the attention of Your 
 Grandeur; the river is the most beautiful port which France 
 can have in the Gulf. There were only twelve feet of water 
 upon the bar when I came to this country. I put in seventeen 
 in the only passage of the vessels, and never having had what 
 I needed to work successively at it I have had two ships of the 
 Company remain on the bar for eight days. 
 
 Monseigneur: Nous avons eu 1 honneur, Mr. Le Marquis de 
 Beauharnois, et moy de vous escrie 1 hiver dernier par la Nou- 
 velle Angleterre, a 1 occasion de la defaite des Renards. je 
 joins a celle cy le duplicata de ma lettre particuliere du 16 
 
372 APPENDIX 
 
 Janvier dernier qui vous sera rendu Monseigneur par la voye 
 de 1 isle Royalle. 
 
 [There is nothing more relative to the defeat of the Foxes.] 
 Votre tres humble et tres obeissant serviteur, 
 
 HOCQUART. 
 A Quebec, le 16 May, 1731. 
 
 Canada, Correspondance Gkn&rale, ifji, Vol. L V 
 
 TRANSLA TION: 
 
 My Lord: We had the honor, M. Le Marquise de Beauhar- 
 nois and myself, to write you last winter via New England, on 
 the occasion of the defeat of the Foxes. I join to this the 
 duplicate of my especial letter of the i6th of January, last, which 
 will be brought to you, Monseigneur, by the way of Isle Royal. 
 Your most humble and most obedient servant, 
 
 HOCQUART. 
 At Quebec, May 16, 1731. 
 
 [There are also in the archives at Paris (Canada, Corre 
 spondance Generate, 1731, Vol. LVI, p. 251) eight other letters 
 relative to the wars with the Foxes, but all prior to 1730.] 
 
 Account of the Defeat of the Foxes by the French of 
 Louisiana and of Canada 
 
 Les Renards unis avec les Maskoutins et Quickapous nous 
 fesoient depuis bien des annees une guerre ouverte et aux 
 sauvages nos allies? ils surprenoient nos detachements, ils 
 enlevoient nos voiageurs, traversoient tous nos dessins, et 
 venoient nous inquitter meme juisque dans nos habitations, 
 que nous ne pouvions cultiver que les armes a la main, on avait 
 tente deja plusieurs fois de les detruire. mais le peu de con 
 cert 1 esprit et la mauvaise conduite de ceux qui furent charges 
 en divers terns de cette entreprise 1 avoient tou jours fait 
 eschouer, un evenement causa en fin leur desunion et la perte 
 des renards. 
 
 Au mois d octobre de 1 annee 1728 un parti de Quikapous et 
 Maskoutins fit prisonnier sur le Missisipi dix sept francais qui 
 descendoient des Sioux aux Illinois, ils delibrerent d abord sils 
 les brusleroient ou s ils les remettroient entre les mains des 
 renards qui les leur demandoient. mais le pere Guignas miss 
 jesuite qui estoient du nombre des prisonniers gagna leur con- 
 fiance et vint about ensuite des les detacher deux et des les 
 
APPENDIX 373 
 
 engager a nous demander la paix. il vint luy meme avec eux 
 aubout de cinq mois de captivite au fort de Chartres ou elle se 
 conclut selon leurs souhaits. 
 
 Les renards, affaibles et deconcertes par cette division pen- 
 serent a se ref ugier par les ouyatannons ches les Iroquois amis 
 des anglais, les quickapous et maskoutins penetrerent leur 
 dessin et ils en donnerent avis dans tons les postes aux francais 
 de la Louisianne et du Canada. On douta quelque terns de 
 leur bonne foy, et M. de St. Ange officier commandant au fort 
 de Chartres ne pouvait determiner les habitans francais a se 
 mettre en campagne. 
 
 Cependant les Illinois du village des lakokias vinrent au mois 
 de juillet 1730 nous aprendre que les renards avoient fait des 
 prisonniers sur eux et brule le fils de leur grand chef aupres du 
 rocher sur la riviere des Illinois, ce nouvelle jointes a des avis 
 que nous receumes dailleurs engagerent a partir. on assembla 
 les sauvages, Mr. de St. Ange se mit a la teste des francais et 
 le 10* jour d aoust ceux-ci aiant joint les trois a quatre cent 
 sauvages qui les avoient devances de quelque -jours notre armee 
 se trouva forte de 500 hommes. 
 
 Les Quikapous, Maskoutins et Illinois du rocher s estoient 
 rendus maitre des parrages du coste du nord est et fut vrai- 
 semblement ce qui contraignit les renards de faire un fort au 
 rocher a une lieue audessous deux pour se mettre a couvert de 
 leurs insultes. Nous eumes des nouvelles de 1 ennemi le 12 par 
 un de nos decouvreurs qui nous aprit ou estoit leur fort et qu il 
 y avoit compte cent ouze cabannes. Nous n en estoins plus 
 esloigner que de deux ou trois journees? Nous continuames 
 done notre marche par des pals couverts, et le 1 7" a la pointe 
 du jour nous arrivames a la vue de 1 ennemi. Nous tombames 
 sur un parti de 40 hommes qui estoient sortis pour la chasse 
 que nous contraignimes de regagner leur fort. 
 
 C estoit un petit bouquet de bois renferme de pieux et situ6 
 sur une pente douce qui s elevoit du cote du oiiest et du nord 
 oiiest le long d une petite riviere, en sorte que du cote du sud 
 et du sud est on les voioit a decouvert leurs cabannes estoient 
 fort petites et pratequees dans la terre comme les tamieres des 
 renards dont ils portent le nom. 
 
 Au bruit des premiers coups de fusil les quickapous, mas 
 koutins et Illinois qui estoient souvent aux mains avec leurs 
 
374 APPENDIX 
 
 partis et qui depuis un mois attendoient du secours vinrent 
 nous joindre au nombre de 200 hommes on se partagea selon 
 les ordres de Mr. de St. Ange pour bloquer les renards qui 
 firent ce jour la deux sorties inutiles. On ouvrit la tranchee 
 la nuit suivante et chacun travailla a se fortifier dans le post 
 qui luy este assigne. 
 
 Le 19 les ennemis demanderent a parler ils offrirent de 
 rendre les es claves q uils avoient faits autrefois sur les Illinois, 
 et ils en rendirent en effet quelques-uns. mais on s apercent 
 q uils ne cherchoient qua nous amuser, on recommencea a tirer 
 sur eux des le lendemain. 
 
 Nous fumes joint les jours suivants par 50 a 60 francais et 500 
 sauvages Poiiatamie, et Sakis que avaoit amenes Mr. de Vil- 
 liers commandant de la riviere St. Joseph, ouyatannons et 
 Peauguichias. Nouvelle conference, les renards demandent 
 la vie les presents a la main. Mr. de Villiers paroit tente mais 
 ses gens n estoient pas les plus forts et il ne pouvait rien con- 
 clure sans le consentement des francais et sauvages Illinois qui 
 ne vouloient se preter a aucun accommodement. 
 
 Cependant on s apercent que les Sakis nous trahissoient, 
 parens et alliez des renards, ils traittoient sous mainavec eux. 
 ils leur fournissoient des munitions et ils prenoient des mesures 
 pour favoriser leur evasion, nos sauvages qui ser aperceurent 
 le i eT 7 tro sameutrent et ils estoient sur le point de donner 
 sur les Sakis 1 orsque Mr. de St. Ange a la teste de 100 fran 
 cais savanca pour fermer toutes les avenues du cote des Sakis 
 et retablit le bon ordre. 
 
 Nous dissimulames cette perfidie jusqua 1 arrivee de Mr. de 
 Noille commandant des Miamis qui se rendit a notre camp le 
 meme jour avec 10 francais et 200 sauvages, il aportoit des 
 defenses de Mr. le gouverneur du Canada de faire aucun traitt6 
 avec les renards. On tint un con 81 genera!, les Sakis y 
 furent humilies et toutes les voix se reunirent pour la perte de 
 1 ennemy. 
 
 Mais nous souffrions deja depuis longtems de la faim aussi 
 bien que les renards. Nos sauvages reduits a manger leurs 
 pars fleches se rebutoient 200 Illinois deserterent le 7 7 b ce 
 mauvais example n eut pas de suite, les renards estoient plus 
 press6 tous les jours les trouppes de Mr. de St. Ange construis- 
 soient a deux portees de pistollet un petit fort qui alloit leur 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 375 
 
 couper la communication de la riviere, tout paroissoit nous 
 annoncer une victoire complete. 
 
 Mais le 8 e 7 bre un orage voilent des tonneres affreux une 
 pluie continuelle interrompirent nos ouvrages. cette journee 
 fut suivie d une nuit aussi pluvieuse que noire et tres froide. 
 Les renards profiterent de 1 occasion et sortirent en silence de 
 leurs fort, on s en apercent aussitot aux cris des enfants. 
 mais que faire et a quelle marque se reconnaitre dans cette 
 obscurite? on craignoit egalement de tuer nos gens et de 
 laisser eschaper 1 ennemi. tout le monde estoit cependant 
 sous les armes et les sauvages s avancoient sur les deux ailes 
 des renards pour donner des que le jour parvitroit. il parut 
 en fin et chacun se mit a les suivre. Nos sauvages plus frais et 
 plus vigoureux les joignirent bientot. 
 
 Les femmes, les enfans et les viellards marchoient a la teste 
 et les guerriers s estoient mis derriere pour les couvrir. ils 
 furent d abord rompus et defaits. le nombre des morts et des 
 prisonniers fut environ de 300 homines guerrier sans parler des 
 femmes et des enfans. tous conviennent quil n en est 
 eschape au plus que 50 ou 60 homines qui se sont sauv6s sans 
 fusil et sans des meubles necessaires a la vie. Les Illinois du 
 rocher, les maskoutins et les quikapous sont actuellement apres 
 ce petit reste de fuiards et les premieres nouvelles nous apren- 
 dront la destruction de cette malheureuse nation. 
 
 Nous ne scavons pas encore combien les nations du Canada 
 ont tues de guerriers non plus que le nombre d esclaves quils 
 ont faits. Canada, Correspondance G&n&rale, 1732, Vol. 
 CLVII,p. 3 /6. 
 
 [This is the document which Ferland had before him when 
 he wrote the description of the battle ; indeed, he made use of 
 the account in totoJ\ 
 
 TRANSLA TION: 
 
 The Foxes, united with the Muscatines and Kickapoos, had 
 carried on open warfare against us and against the savages, 
 our allies. They surprised our detachments; they carried 
 away our travelers ; thwarted all our schemes and even came 
 to disturb us in our settlements, which we could only cultivate, 
 our arms in our hands. Their destruction had been under 
 taken already several times, but the lack of harmony, the tem 
 per and the bad leadership of those who were charged at differ- 
 
376 APPENDIX 
 
 ent times with this enterprise had always caused it to fail. 
 An event finally caused their disunion and the loss of the 
 Foxes. 
 
 In the month of October of the year 1728 a party of Kicka- 
 poos and Muscatines captured upon the Mississippi seventeen 
 French who were descending from the Sioux to the Illinois. 
 They deliberated at first whether they should burn them or 
 whether they should give them into the hands of the Foxes, 
 who were asking for them ; but Father Guignas, a Jesuit mis 
 sionary, who was one of the prisoners, gained their confidence 
 and finally succeeded in detaching them from them [Foxes], 
 and induced them to ask us for peace. He himself came with 
 them, at the end of five months captivity, to Fort de Chartres, 
 where it was concluded according to their wishes. 
 
 The Foxes enfeebled and disconcerted by this division, 
 thought about taking refuge (by passing through the territory 
 of the Outanous) among the Iroquois, the friends of the Eng 
 lish. The Kickapoos and Muscatines anticipated their designs, 
 and they gave notice of them in all the French posts of Louisi 
 ana and of Canada. Their good faith was doubted for some 
 time, and M. de St. Ange, officer commanding at Fort Char 
 tres, could not persuade the French inhabitants to take up 
 arms. 
 
 However, the Illinois of the village of Lakokias came in the 
 month of July, 1730, to tell us that the Foxes had taken some 
 prisoners among them, and had burned the son of their great 
 chief near^the Rock, upon the Illinois River. This news, 
 joined to information we received from elsewhere, led us to 
 move. The savages are brought together, M. de St. Ange 
 places himself at the head of the French, and the roth day of 
 August, after having overtaken the three or four hundred 
 savages which had preceded them several days, our army finds 
 itself 500 men strong. 
 
 The Kickapoos, Muscatines and Illinois of the Rock had 
 taken possession of the northeast quarter, and it was probably 
 that which constrained the Foxes to build a fort at the Rock a 
 league below them in order to get under cover from their 
 assaults. We had news of the enemy on the i2th from one of 
 our scouts, who informed us where their fort was, and that he 
 had counted there one hundred and eleven cabins. We were 
 
APPENDIX 377 
 
 distant from it only two or three days march. We continued, 
 therefore, our march through covered country, and the i7th, at 
 the break of day, we arrived in sight of theienemy. 
 
 We met a party of forty men who had gone outpn the hunt, 
 whom we forced to return to their fort. 
 
 It was a little thicket of woods enclosed with piles and situ 
 ated upon ^a gentle slope which rose in the direction of the 
 west and northwest along a little river ; so that in the direction 
 of the south and southeast one saw them plainly; their tepees 
 were small and set in the earth like the dens (holes) of foxes, 
 whose name they bear. 
 
 At the noise of the first gunshot the Kickapoos, Muscatines 
 and the Illinois who were often in contact with their bands, and 
 who had been expecting aid for a month, came to join us to 
 the number of 200 men. They divided according to the orders 
 of M. de St. Ange, in order to blockade the Foxes, who made 
 two unfruitful attempts to get out that day. A trench was 
 opened in the following night, and each worked to fortify him 
 self at the post assigned him. 
 
 The igth the enemy asked a parley. They offered to give 
 up the slaves which they had formerly taken from the Illinois, 
 and they returned several, in fact, but it could be seen that 
 they were only seeking to amuse themselves. The firing upon 
 them began again the next morning. 
 
 We were joined the following day by fifty to sixty French, 
 and 500 savages, Pottawattamies and Saks, whom M. de Vil- 
 liers, Commandant of St. Joseph River Outamous and Peau- 
 quichias, had led thither. A new conference was held. The 
 Foxes asked for their lives with presents in their hands. M. de 
 Villiers appeared tempted, but his followers were not the 
 strongest, and he could not conclude anything without the 
 consent of the French and the Illinois savages, who would not 
 lend themselves to any agreement. 
 
 In the meanwhile we perceived that the Saks were betraying 
 us to the relatives and allies of [the Foxes. They were treat 
 ing underhandedly with them. They were furnishing them 
 with ammunition, and they were taking measures to favor 
 their escape. Our savages, who noticed it the ist of Septem 
 ber, mutinied, and they were upon the point of attacking the 
 Saks when M. de St. Ange at the head of 100 French advanced 
 
378 APPENDIX 
 
 so as to close all avenues in the direction of the Saks and re 
 establish good order. 
 
 We feigned not to take notice of this perfidy until the arrival 
 of M. de Noille, Commandant of the Miamis, who came to our 
 camp the same day with ten French and 200 savages. He 
 brought a prohibition from the Governor of Canada to make 
 any treaty with the Foxes. A general council was held. The 
 Saks were humiliated, and all voices joined for the destruction 
 of the enemy. 
 
 But we had already suffered a long time from hunger as well 
 as the Foxes. Our savages, reduced to eating their shields, 
 were disheartened. Two hundred Illinois deserted on the 7th 
 of September. This bad example had no result. The Foxes 
 were pressed harder every day. The troops of M. de St. Ange 
 constructed a small fort at two lengths of a pistol-shot, 
 which was to cut them off from communication with the 
 river. Everything appeared to promise a complete victory 
 for us. 
 
 But on the 8th of September a violent storm, with frightful 
 thunder and continual rain, interrupted our works. This day 
 was followed by a night quite as rainy, dark, and very cold. 
 The Foxes profited by the occasion and left their forts in 
 silence. It was immediately noticed from the cries of the chil 
 dren. But what could we do, and by what marks could we 
 recognize one another in that darkness? We feared equally 
 killing our own men and letting the enemy escape. Every 
 one, however, was under arms, and the savages advanced 
 upon the two wings of the Foxes in order to attack them as 
 soon as the day should appear. It finally appeared, and each 
 one began following them. Our savages, fresher and more 
 vigorous, soon overtook them. 
 
 The women, the children and the old men were marching at 
 the head, and the warriors had taken their places behind them 
 in order to cover them. They were at first broken and then 
 defeated. The number of the dead and of the prisoners was 
 about 300 warriors, without speaking of the women and the 
 children. All agree that at the most only fifty or sixty men 
 escaped, who ran away without guns or any weapons neces 
 sary to life! The Illinois of the Rock, the Muscatines and the 
 Kickapoos are at present after this small remaining number of 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 379 
 
 runaways, and the first news will bring information of the 
 destruction of that miserable nation. 
 
 We do not yet know how many warriors the nations of 
 Canada killed, nor the number of slaves which they have 
 taken. 
 
 Defeat of the Fox Savages 
 
 [December 18, 1731.] 
 
 Le 6 aoust 1730 le Sr. de Villiers commandant a la Riviere 
 St. Joseph apris par deux Maskoutins qut lui furent deputes 
 par leur nation que les Renards qui s estoient mis en marche 
 pour se rendre chez les Iroquois avoient 6te poursuivis par les 
 Poutoutamis Maskoutins Kikapous et Illinois et qu apres avoir 
 essuye deux differentes attaques de la part de ces nations, ils 
 avoient gagne un bosquet de vois on ils s estoient fortifies avec 
 leurs families. 
 
 II donne aussitot avis de cette nouvelle au Sr. de Noyelles 
 commandant aux Miamis. il detacha en meme temps deux 
 sauvages au Commandant du Detroit pour lui en faire par et 
 le 10 du meme mois il partit lui meme a la tete de 300 francais 
 ou sauvages allies pour se rendre au lieu ou etoient les Renards. 
 II y trouva le Sr. de St. Ange qui y etait deja arrive de la 
 Louisianne avec 100 francais et 400 sauvages. Le Sr. de 
 Noyelles s y rendit aussi avec des nations de son poste, en 
 sorte que la troupe se trouva composee d environ 1400 homines. 
 
 Les Renards avoient construit leur fort dans un bouquet de 
 bois situe sur le bord d une Riviere dans une vaste prairie. 
 Le Sr. St. Ange s etait campe a la gauche de cette riviere et 
 avait fait faire des redoutes pour couper 1 eau aux assieges ; 
 mais ce redoutes devinrent inutiles, les Renards ay ant trouve" 
 le moyen de pratiquer des chemins souterrains qui communi- 
 quoient a la riviere. 
 
 Le Sr. de Villiers se campa a la droite de leur fort pour le 
 battre. II en fit construire lui meme deux avec un cavalier et 
 pour en aprocher de plus pres et essayer d y mettre le feu, il 
 fit ouvrir la tranchee. Les assieges firent d abord grand feu 
 sur lui, mais ils chercherent bientot a parlementer; les nations 
 sauvages qui ne vouloient que faire des esclaves, lui propose- 
 rent de les ecouter, mais il refusa constament; en sorte qu ils 
 
380 APPENDIX 
 
 tournerent leurs ^tentatives du cot6 du Sr. de St. Ange qui fit 
 le meme refus. 
 
 Les assieges se trouverent par la reduits a manger leur 
 couvertures de peaux; malgre cet 6tat violent ils soutinrent 
 pendant 23 jours ; mais le 8, 7 bre. il y cut un orage, si furieux 
 et la nuit si obscure, qu il ne fut pas possible au Sr. de 
 Villiers d engager les sauvages a garder les passages. Les 
 assieges profiterent de cet avantage pour sortir de leur fort ; 
 mais les cris de leurs enfants, et une femme qui se rendit a la 
 tranchee ayant decouverte leur fuite, on les poursuivit, on les 
 joignit: a la pointe du jour, on donna sur eux avec viguer, on 
 les mit en deroute ; 200 guerriers furent tues ou brales ; 600 
 femmes ou enfants eurent le meme sort, et cette defaite jointe 
 aux autres pertes que cette nation avoit soufert dans les differ- 
 entes attaques qu elle avait assuy6 precedemment de la part 
 des sauvages allies, la reduite a 30 cabannes avec quelques 
 vieilles femmes sans enfans erronte sans vivres munitions. 
 les Illinois ont encore frape sur elle ;* et ne trouvant d azile 
 nulle part, elle a pris le parti d envoyer deux nouveaux chefs a 
 Mr. le Marquis de Beauharnois pour lui demander la vie. 
 
 Dans les paroles que ces 2 chefs lui ont ports de la part du 
 reste de la nation ils se sont representes comme des victimes 
 dignes de la mort et ils lui ont demande grace que pour reparer 
 par leur soumission les crimes que leur obstination leur a fait 
 commetre. Ils lui ont proteste que si dans la suite il se 
 trouve quelque coupable ils le livreront eux-memes pour 
 estre puni ; et pour assurance de leur protestation, ils lui ont 
 demand^ quelqu un pour les gouverner. Mr. le Marquis de 
 Beauharnois leur a repondu avec fermet6, il leur a fait voir 
 1 indignit6 de leur conduite, il leur a reproche leur trahisons, 
 et les tentatives qu ils avoient faites ches les Sonontouans dans 
 le temps qu ils lui demandoient la paix. II leur a dit qu il 
 voulait d autres assurances de leur fidelit6 que leur protesta 
 tions et leurs paroles; et il a exig6 que 1 un d eux restat aupres 
 de lui, et que 1 autre allot chercher 4 des principaux guerriers 
 de la nation pour lui venir demander pardon I ann6e prochaine 
 a Montreal ; sans quoi tout ce reste miserable seroit extermine 
 
 *Suivant une lettre du Sr. de Boishebert, commandant au Detroit du 15 
 juillet 1731 les Illinois ont tu6 dans cette occasion 3 femmes et fait. 
 
APPENDIX 381 
 
 sans misericorde, cette condition a este accepte" 1 un des chefs 
 est parti pour aller faire, par a sa nation de la reponse de Mr. 
 le Marquis de Beauharnois Pautre est reste aupres de lui et on 
 attend le printemps prochain le 4 guerriers. Les sauvages 
 paroissent cependant vouloir en 6teindre la race, et M. le 
 Marquis de Beauharnois les entiendra dans cette disposition si 
 cette nation manque a ce qu elle lui a promis. 
 
 Cette defaite a repandu la joye ches les nations et il est venu 
 1 este dernier a Montreal des sauvages de toutes partes pour en 
 marquer leur satisfaction a M. le Marquis de Beauharnois et 
 lui renouveler les assurances de leur fidelite, el y a este d aulant 
 plus sensible lui meme que par la resignation de tous les sau 
 vages il s est apercu de 1 impression que cette guerre a fait sur 
 leurs esprits et quil se trouve par ce moyen en etat de travail- 
 ler a retablir dans les pays d enhaut la paix qui y etait enter- 
 rompiie depuis longtemps et d y continuer nos etablissements. 
 C est dans cette veu quil a renvoy6 cette annee ches les Sioux 
 pour y retablir le poste qu on avait este oblige d abandonner, a 
 cause de la proximite des Renards et il a renouvelle pour cet 
 effet le traite quil avait fait lors du per etablissement de ce 
 poste.* 
 
 II ne lui a paru moins important de penser au poste de la 
 Baye que la proximit6 des Renards avait aussi fait abandon- 
 ner. il y a envoye" le Sr. de Villiers au retour de son expedi 
 tion pour le retablir comme il etait avant quil fut evacue en cas 
 qu il trouve les Sakis dans la disposition d y etablir parealle- 
 ment leur village. 
 
 II a era devoir d abord pouvoir au retablissement de ces deux 
 postes d autant plus que 1 empechmens que les Renards apor- 
 toient a celui des Scioux ne subsistant plus, on sera en etat 
 d en tirer tous les avantages qu on s etait propose. D un autre 
 cote Penterprise de Sr. de la Veranderie le demandait, parce 
 quil est absolument necessaire que cette nation soit dans nos 
 interets, afin de nous mettre a portee d estre en commerce avec 
 les assiniboils et les Cristenaux ches lesquels il faut passer pour 
 aller a la decouverte de la mer de POuest. Les Cristenaux ont 
 eu affaire avec les Sauteurs de la pointe de Chagouamigon et 
 leur ont tue quelques hommes, mais il compte P affaire acco- 
 
 *Ce traite avoit este fait en 1726, il y en a une copie cy jointe. 
 
382 APPENDIX 
 
 modee, et il veillera a ce que ces sauvages vivent en paix a 
 1 avenir, les differens entre ces nations prejudicieroient beau- 
 coup a toutes nos enterprises, pour la reussite desquelles il est 
 besoin de la tranquillite quil tacher d afermer dans les pays 
 d en haut. 
 
 Mr. De Maurepas, Ministre de la Marine, fonctionnaires 
 divers de la Colonie. Canada, Correspondance Gbntrale, 
 1731, Vol. L VI, p. 336. 
 
 TRANSLA TION: 
 
 The 6th of August, 1730, M. de Villiers, commandant at the 
 St. Joseph river, learned from two Maskoutins who had been 
 sent to him by their nation that the Foxes, who had started on 
 the march to go to the Iroquois, had been pursued by the Pot- 
 tawattamies, Mascoutins, Kickapoos and Illinois, and that after 
 having endured two different attacks on the part of these 
 nations, they had gained a thicket [of woods] where they had 
 fortified themselves with their families. 
 
 He immediately gave advice of this news to M. de Noyelles, 
 commandant at the Miamis. He sent at the same time two 
 savages to the commandant of Detroit, to notify him of it, 
 and the loth of the same month he himself departed at the 
 head of 300 French or allied savages to go to the place where 
 the Foxes were. He found there M. de St. Ange, who had 
 arrived from Louisiana with 100 French and 400 savages. 
 
 M. de Noyelles also came there with the nations of his post, 
 so that the troop was composed of about 1400 men. 
 
 The Foxes had constructed their fort in a thicket situated on 
 the bank of a river in a vast prairie. M. St. Ange had camped 
 at the left of that river and had had redoubts constructed in 
 order to cut off the water from the besieged, but these redoubts 
 became worthless, the Foxes having found the means of con 
 triving subterranean ways which communicated with the river. 
 
 M. de Villiers camped at the right of their fort in order to 
 assail it. He also had two of them constructed with a cavalier 
 (a kind of fort to protect advanced positions), and, in order to 
 approach the closest possible to try to set fire to it, he had a 
 trench opened. The besieged at first opened a great fire upon 
 him, but they soon sought to parley ; the savage nations, who 
 only wished to make slaves, proposed to him to harken to them, 
 
APPENDIX 383 
 
 but he constantly refused, so that they directed their attempts 
 in the direction of M. St. Ange, who made them the same 
 refusal. 
 
 The besieged found themselves thereby reduced to eating 
 their skin coverings. In spite of this desperate condition, they 
 held out for twenty-three days ; but on the 8th of September 
 there was such a terrible storm and the night was so dark that 
 it was not possible for M. de Villiers to induce the savages to 
 guard the passages. 
 
 The besieged profited by this advantage to leave their fort ; 
 but the cries of their children and a woman who was going to 
 the trench having made known their flight, they were pursued 
 and overtaken at the break of day. They were attacked with 
 vigor and put to flight ; 200 warriors were killed or burned ; 
 600 women and children met the same fate, and this defeat, 
 joined to the other losses which that nation had suffered in the 
 different attacks which it had endured previously from the part 
 of the allied savages, reduced it to thirty cabins, with a few 
 old women without children wandering about without provi 
 sions or ammunition. The Illinois attacked them* once more, 
 and finding no refuge anywhere they decided to send two new 
 chiefs to M. le Marquis de Beauharnois in order to ask their 
 lives of him. 
 
 In the expressions which these two chiefs brought to him 
 from the rest of the nations, they represented themselves as 
 victims worthy of death, and they only asked grace in order to 
 repair by their submission the crimes which their obstinacy 
 had caused them to commit. They protested to him that if in 
 the future any guilty person was found among them, they 
 would deliver him up themselves^to be punished; and for an 
 assurance of their protestations, they asked him for some one 
 to govern them. M. le Marquis de Beauharnois answered them 
 with firmness. He showed them the infamy of their conduct. 
 He reproached them for their treachery and the attempts 
 which they had made among the Sonontouans at the time 
 when they were asking him for peace. He told them that he 
 wished other assurances of their fidelity than their protesta- 
 
 * According to a letter from M. de Boishebert, commandant at Detroit, 
 of July 15, 1731, the Illinois killed on that occasion three women and made 
 prisoners of five men and nine women and children. 
 
384 APPENDIX 
 
 tions and their words; and he required that one of them should 
 remain with him and the other should go fetch four of the 
 principal warriors of the nation to come and beg his pardon 
 the next year at Montreal; without which all the miserable 
 remainder should be exterminated without mercy. This con 
 dition having been accepted, one of the chiefs departed to go 
 and inform his nation of the answer of M. le Marquis de Beau- 
 harnois. The other remained with him, and the four warriors 
 were expected the following spring. The savages, however, 
 appear to desire to destroy the race, and M. le Marquis de 
 Beauharnois will keep them in that disposition if that nation 
 fails in what it has promised him. 
 
 This defeat has spread joy among the nations, and last sum 
 mer there came to Montreal savages from all parts to express 
 their satisfaction to M. le Marquis de Beauharnois, and to 
 renew to him the assurance of their fidelity. He has been all 
 the more aware of it himself, as by the resignation of all the 
 savages he perceives the impression which that war has made 
 upon their minds; and as by that means he finds himself in a 
 position to work to reestablish in the upper country the peace 
 which had been interrupted for so long a time, and to continue 
 our establishment there. It is with that in view that he has 
 sent away this year among the Sioux to reestablish the post 
 there which had had to be abandoned on account of the prox 
 imity of the Foxes, and he renewed to that end the treaty 
 which had been made at the time of the first establishment of 
 that post.* 
 
 It seemed none the less important to think of the post at The 
 Bay which the proximity of the Foxes had also caused to be 
 abandoned. He sent there M. de Villiers, upon his return from 
 his expedition, to reestablish it as it was before it was evacu 
 ated, in case he found the Saks in the disposition to also estab 
 lish their village there. 
 
 He believed that he ought first to provide for the reestablish- 
 ment of these two posts, the more so as the hindrance which 
 the Foxes had occasioned to the one among the Sioux no longer 
 existing they would be enabled to derive all the advantages 
 which they expected. On the other hand, the enterprise of M. 
 
 *This treaty had been made in 1726. 
 
APPENDIX 385 
 
 de la Veranderie demanded it, because it is absolutely neces 
 sary that that nation should be on our side in order to enable 
 us to be in communication with the Assiniboils and the 
 Cristenaux, through whose territories it will be necessary to 
 pass to discover the Ocean of the West. The Cristenaux had 
 an affair with the Sauteurs* of the point of Chagoumigon, 
 and killed a few men, but he counts the affair as settled, 
 and he will see that the savages live in peace in the 
 future. The differences among these nations hindered all our 
 enterprises exceedingly, for the success of which there is need 
 of tranquillity, which he will undertake to make more secure in 
 the upper country. 
 
 M. de Maurepas, Minister of the Marine, divers functionaries 
 of the Colony. 
 
 [There is one letter written by Perier to Maurepas in which 
 he refers to the fact that his son had been sent to France to 
 give a personal description of the defeat of the Foxes. It was 
 a most important defeat, for the Foxes were forever opposing 
 the progress of the French. ] 
 
 The Sauteurs in habited the region around the Sault Ste. Marie, hence 
 the name. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Andrews map, 46. 
 
 Allouez among the Foxes, 91, 
 
 97, 107, 118. 
 describes the Illinois, 109. 
 
 Black Hawk s cave, 38, 39. 
 Big Rock Creek described, 35. 
 Buffalo Rock, 49, 247. 
 Burning of criminal in Illinois, 
 
 12. 
 
 a suspect in Kansas, 16. 
 Burials, 50. 
 
 Bullhead, the story of, 57. 
 Burning of prisoners, Illinois 
 
 custom of, 242. 
 Burning of prisoners, origin of 
 
 custom of, 90. 
 Butte de Mort, 196, 229. 
 
 Canons of the Colorado, in the, 
 
 10. 
 Charlevoix among the western 
 
 tribes, 241. 
 
 describes the Pestekouy, 243. 
 Crespel s, Father, account of De 
 
 Lignerie s expedition, 261. 
 Chicagou portage, 45. 
 Chicago, trails to, 68. 
 Kinzie takes, 341. 
 a Miami village, 68, 116, 162, 
 
 178, 193- 
 
 French post near, 161. 
 why so named, 193, 355. 
 
 Crimes of to-day, 15. 
 Chiefs of Maramech, 73. 
 Coronelli s map, 32. 
 Commerce, 130. 
 
 Conspiracy against the French, 
 305- 
 
 Dance of the calumet, no. 
 De Lisle s map, 41. 
 De Lignerie s expedition, 261. 
 De Villiers attacks Sac fort, 303. 
 Detroit, siege of, 200, 226. 
 
 English intrigues with the 
 Foxes, 145. 
 
 Franquelin s map of 1684, 23. 
 
 of 1688, 28. 
 
 Foxes rob the French, 196. 
 French map, early, 30. 
 
 old, 44. 
 
 Foxes, defeat of, in 1730, 279, 
 288. 
 
 village of the, the deserted, 
 312. 
 
 Sioux tribes unite against, 
 
 239- 
 
 first heard of, 80. 
 Fox tribe, first accounts of, 79. 
 Fort St. Louis, 25, 68, 248 (see 
 
 maps 23 to 31). 
 
 French, prejudice against the, 
 113- 
 
 387 
 
388 
 
 INDEX 
 
 French, menaced by Foxes and 
 
 others, 163. 
 Foxes and Sacs against the 
 
 Ojibwas, 88. 
 Foxes against the Sauteurs, 
 
 155- 
 
 Foxes, branch of, located near 
 Chicago, 232. 
 
 afraid of treachery, 266. 
 
 attack the Illinois, 267. 
 
 warred against by the French, 
 269, 272. 
 
 attacked by Iroquois, 302. 
 
 attacked by Ojibwas, 311. 
 
 attacked by Marin, 273. 
 
 part remove west of the Mis 
 sissippi, 313. 
 
 mentioned by Drake, 314. 
 
 mentioned by Lieut. Pike, 
 
 314- 
 
 mentioned by Clark, 315. 
 various opinions of, 316. 
 and Sacs in the War of 1812, 
 
 316. 
 
 Fox chief s son goes to Mon 
 treal, 190. 
 Foxes, French expedition 
 
 against, 237. 
 poverty of, 172. 
 De Lignerie s expedition 
 
 against, 257. 
 and Sacs attack the Mascou- 
 
 tins, 321. 
 and Sacs attack the Peorias, 
 
 321. 
 Fox reservation at Tama, 
 
 Iowa, 343. 
 Foxes, defeat of the, traditions 
 
 of, 345- 
 
 Foxes with Black Hawk, 352. 
 
 Gibson s map, 33. 
 Guiguas, Father, captured, 235. 
 opinion of the Foxes, 269. 
 
 Happy hunting-ground, 51. 
 Hennepin s map, 40. 
 Hennepin at the Falls of St. 
 
 Anthony, 143. 
 Hunters, the story of the, 62. 
 
 Indians, their better natures 
 and schooling, 9, n, 13, 16, 
 18, 143. 
 
 Indian lands purchased, 329. 
 
 Illinois, various tribes against, 
 
 233- 
 Illinois attacked by Iroquois, 
 
 134- 
 
 attack the Iroquois, 136. 
 Illinois, confederated tribes, 
 
 120. 
 Iroquois, defeated by the 
 
 Foxes, 137. 
 western limit of claims, 152. 
 
 Joliet s map, 25. 
 
 Kalamazoo river not the vil 
 lage of Maramech, 70-75. 
 
 Kilatikas, 49, 120. 
 
 Kishwaukee trail, 42. 
 
 Kinzie s trip over the trails, 
 333- 
 
 La Salle s expeditions, 24. 
 colony, map of, 23, 71. 
 robbed by the Foxes, 130. 
 
INDEX 
 
 389 
 
 Lanman s map referred to, 26. 
 Lead mines worked by the 
 
 Foxes, 325, 327. 
 Lenox Library map, 50. 
 Little Rock Creek described, 35. 
 Long-haired, the hermit, story 
 
 of, 55- 
 
 Maps: 
 
 Franquelin s, 1684, 23. 
 
 1688, 38. 
 Shafer s, 47. 
 Andrews , 46. 
 Hennepin s, 40. 
 De Lisle s, 41. 
 Tillman s, 31. 
 Site of Maramech, 21. 
 Thevenot s, 27. 
 Lenox Library, 50. 
 Popple s, 29. 
 Old French, 30. 
 Joliet s, 25. 
 Coronelli s, 32. 
 Gibson s, 33. 
 Old French map, 44. 
 Maramech hill, Popple s map 
 
 showing, 29. 
 Maramech (Maramea-Maraux) 
 
 first learned of, 116. 
 Maramech, discovery of site of, 
 
 22. 
 site of, shown on map, 23, 28, 
 
 29, 30, 31- 
 
 site of, described, 32, 36, 75. 
 Perrot recruits at, 164. 
 Feast at, 167, 177. 
 M iami s urged to abandon ,172. 
 where located, 70, 181. 
 
 Maramech, Miamis requested 
 
 to settle at, 188. 
 
 site of, Kinzie at, 336, 338. 
 
 site of, the last red resident 
 
 at, 336. 
 Mascoutin chief meets Perrot 
 
 at, 189. 
 Marquette at the Illinois town, 
 
 119. 
 Shea s unwarranted claims 
 
 for, 26. 
 
 Medicines, presents as, 173. 
 Miamis on the St. Joseph river, 
 
 119. 
 
 Miamis, branches of the, 120. 
 Mississippi river, discovery of, 
 
 127. 
 
 Allouez learns of, 116. 
 Maramech, Miamis of, ordered 
 
 by chief to build fort, 189. 
 Mortuary customs, 50. 
 Morand s expedition, 197. 
 
 Negro slavery at Kaskaskia, 276. 
 Nicolet, 95. 
 at the Mississippi river, 44. 
 
 Old French map, 30. 
 Ouchegamie-Outagamie, 82. 
 
 Paris documents, 360. 
 Pepikokias, 49, 120. 
 Pestekouy (Fox river), 25, 39. 
 Perrot commissioned, 70, 73, 
 
 146. 
 Perrot, among the Sauteurs, 147. 
 
 at the Fox village, 156. 
 
 proposed speech of, 157. 
 
 a prisoner, 165. 
 
 rescued, 166. 
 
390 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Perrot, at Maramech, 164, 167, 
 
 169, 175. 
 arrives at Montreal with 
 
 western tribes, 179, 194. 
 at the Sioux, 184. 
 Mascoutins attempt to am 
 bush, 1 88. 
 
 at the lead mines, 325. 
 Pistakee lake, 25, 244. 
 Pinart s reproduction of old 
 
 French map, 44. 
 Popple s map, 29. 
 
 Racine portage, 42. 
 Red Banks, 82. 
 
 Starved Rock, 68, 245, 246, 247, 
 
 248, 252, 253, 255, 256. 
 Sacs, people of the yellow earth, 
 
 87- 
 
 Shafer s map, 47. 
 Saint Marks, mission of, 103, 
 
 107, 120, 121, 129. 
 Saint Ange, march of, 276. 
 Shaubena, 352, 353. 
 Sauk and Fox trail, 39, 67, 68. 
 
 Sioux attacked by Mascoutins 
 
 and Foxes, 182. 
 Siege, the, 288. 
 
 Taking possession of the west, 
 
 117. 
 Tama, Iowa, Fox reservation, 
 
 343- 
 
 Traffic of the trails, 331. 
 Treaty of Prairie du Chien, 320. 
 
 Foxes at, 321. 
 The trails, Kinzie s trip over, 
 
 333- 
 The Rock of Fox river, 38, 
 
 39- 
 
 Thevenot s map, 27, 128. 
 Tonty, 68. 
 Tonty at Fort St. Louis, ordered 
 
 by Iroquois to leave, 256. 
 Torture of captives, 88, 89. 
 Tillman s map, 31. 
 
 Wa-sa-ri, the story of, 57. 
 Wa-sa-ka, the story of, 59. 
 Waubansie, 352. 
 Witches, burning of, n. 
 
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