Old and new Mackinac : with copious extracts from Marquette, Hennepin, La Houtan [!], Cadillac, Alexander Henry, and others

Front matter

EXPLANATION

BATTLE GROUND

POSITION OF AMERICAN GUN

Preface

In the preparation of this little volume, I have carefully examined the following works : Holmes' American Annals, two volumes ; Robertson's History of America; Bancroft's United States; Bell's Canada, two volumes; Albach's Annals of the West; Lahnman's Michigan; Sheldon's Early Michigan; Historical and Scientific Sketches of Michigan; Neill's Minnesota; Smith's Wisconsin, three volumes; Wynne's General History of the British Empire; Rogers' Concise Account of North America; Dillon's Early Settlement of the North-Western Territory ; Heriot's Canada ; Parkman's Pontiac; Parkman's Discovery of the Great West; Schoolcraft's Works, complete; Documentary History of New York, complete; Palmer's Historical Register, 1814; Shea's Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi, — also, Catholic Missions; Hennepin; La Houtan, two volumes; Charlevoix, two volumes ; Alexander Henry; Carver; Disturnell; Newcomb's Cyclopedia of Missions; American Missions to the Heathen ; Geological Reports by Foster and Whitnej', and by Professor Winchell ; Thatcher's Indian Biography, two volumes; Strickland's Old Mackinaw; Drake's Northern Lakes and Southern Invalids, — also. Diseases of the Mississippi Vallev, by the same author.

I am also greatly indebted to Messrs. Ambrose and William Davenport for a detailed account of the War of 1812 in its connection with this Island. These gentlemen were boys of from twelve to fifteen years of age at the time, and were eye-witnesses of all that passed. Their account agrees, in every important particular, with the official returns of Commodore Sinclair and Colonel Croghan, but is, ol course, much more minute.

IV PREFACE.

Several other citizens of the place have likewise rendered valuable assistance in matters falling within the scope of their recollection. I also desire to acknowledge my obligation to Edgar Conkling, Esq., of Mackinaw City, for valuable notes and suggestions, and to H. R. Mills, M. D., of Fort Mackinac, and Rev. J. M. Arnold, of Detroit, for assistance in getting the work through the press.

This book has been prepared to meet a want long felt and often

expressed by the many who throng this Island in quest of health or

pleasure during the summer. That it may accomplish this end, is the

earnest wish of the author,

J. A. V.

Mackinac, July 4, 1870

CLLVCLAND.

Chapter I. Jesuit History

The first pale-faces who ventured into the region stretching around the great lakes, were Jesuit missionaries. Of these, the first who claim a notice here are the Fathers Charles Raymbault and Isaac Jogues. In 1641, these two men visited the Chippewas at the Sault and established a mission among them, but Raymbault soon after fell a victim to consumption, and the enterprise was abandoned. Desperate Indian wars, which soon followed, prevented any fuilher attempt to estab-

OLD AND NEW MACKINAC.

lish missions among the Indians around the lakes for nearly thirty years.

In the spring of i66S, the illustrious Father, James Marquette, was ordered to repair to the Ottawa mission, as that around Lake Superior was then called. Arriving at the Sault, he planted his cabin at the foot of the rapids, on the American side, and began his work. In the following year he was joined by Father Dablon, Superior of the mission, and by their united exertions a church was soon built. This was the first permanent settlement made on the soil of Michigan.

During that same year, Marquette repaired to Lapointe, near the western extremity of Lake Superior, leaving Dablon to continue the mission at the Sault. When he arrived at his new field of labor, he found several Indian villages, one of which was composed of Hurons, who, several years before, had dwelt, for a short time, on Mackinac Island.

Previous to leaving the Sault, Marquette had heard vague reports of the " Great River," and had formed the design of one day exploring it and preaching the gospel to those far-off nations who dwelt upon its banks. That he might carry out this design, he obtained, while at Lapointe, an Illinois captive, and diligently studied the language, hoping that he would be permitted to visit that people in the following Fall. But in this he was doomed to disappointment. A war which broke out between the Sioux, and the Hurons and Ottawas, compelled the two last mentioned tribes to leave Lapointe and seek a new home. Marquette's lot was cast with the Hurons, who embarked in their frail canoes, descended the rapids of St. Mary's, and, " remembering the rich fisheries of Mackinac, resolved to return to that pebbly strand." Having fixed upon a place of abode, the missionary's first thought was the establishment of a mission for the spiritual good of his savage followers. While making the necessary preparations for the erection of a chapel and the permanent founding of his colony, he dwelt on this island.

The following extract is from a letter written by Marquette

JESUIT HISTORY.

in 1671, and published in the Relations des Jesuits of that year:

" Michihmackinac is an island famous in these regions, of more than a league in diameter, and elevated in some places by such high cliffs as to be seen more than twelve leagues off. It is situated just in the strait forming the communication between Lakes Huron and Illinois (Michigan). It is the key, and, as it were, the gate, for all the tribes from the south, as the Sault is for those of the north, there being in this section of country only those two passages by water, for a great number of nations have to go by one or other of these channels, in order to reach the French settle ments-

" This presents a peculiarly favorable opportunity, both for instructing those who pass here, and also for obtaining easy access and conveyance to their places of abode.

. " This place is the most noted in these regions for the abundance of its fisheries ; for, according to tlie Indian saying, ' this is the home of the fishes.' Elsewhere, although they exist in large numbers, it is not properly their ' home,' which is in the neighboi'hood of Michilimackinac.

" In fact, beside the fish common to all the other tribes, as the herring, carp, pike, gold-fish, white-fish, and sturgeon, there are found three varieties of the trout — one common ; the second of a larger size, three feet long and one foot thick ; the third monstrous, for we cannot otherwise describe it — it being so fat that the Indians, who have a peculiar relish for fats, can scarcely eat it. Besides, the supply is such that a single Indian will take forty or fifty of them through the ice, with a single spear, in three hours.

" It is this attraction which has heretofore drawn to a point so advantageous the greater part of the savages in this country, driven away by fear of the Iroquois. The three tribes at present living on the Baye des Puans (Green Bay) as strangers, formerly dwelt on the main land near the middle of this island — some on the borders of Lake Illinois, others on the borders of Lake Huron. A part of them, called Sauteurs^

OLD AND NEW MACKINAC.

had their abode on the main land at the west, and the others look upon this place as their country for passing the winter, when there are no fish at the Sault. The Hurons, called Etonontaikronnons, have lived for some years in the same island, to escape the Iroquois. Four villages of Ottawas had also their abode in this quarter.

" It is worthy of notice that those who bore the name of the island, and called themselves Michilimackinac, were so numerous that some of the survivors yet living here assvire us that they once had thirty villages, all enclosed in a fortification of a league and a half in circuit, when the Iroquois came and defeated them, inflated by a victory they had gained over three thousand men of tiiat nation, who had carried their hostilities as far as the country of the Agnichronnons.

" In one word, the quantity of fish, united with the excellence of the soil for Indian corn, has always been a powerful attraction to the tribes in these regions, of which the greater part subsist only on fish, but some on Indian corn. On this account many of these same tribes, perceiving that the peace is likely to be established with the Iroquois, have turned their attention to this point, so convenient for a return to their own country, and will follow the examples of those who have made a beginning on the islands of Lake Huron, which by this means will soon be peopled from one end to the other, an event highly desirable to facilitate the instniction of the Indian race, whom it would not be necessary to seek by journeys of two or three hundred leagues on these great lakes, with inconceivable danger and hardship.

" In order to aid the execution of the design, signified to us by many of the savages, of taking up their abode at this point, where some have already passed the winter, hunting in the neighborhood, we ourselves have also wintered here, in order to make arrangements for establishing the mission of St. Ignace^ from whence it will be easy to have access to all the Indians of Lake Huron, when the several tribes shall have settled each on its own lands.

JESUIT HISTORY.

" With these advantages, the place has also its inconveniences, particularly for the French, who are not yet familiar, as are the savages, with the difterent kinds of fishery, in which the latter are trained from their birth ; the winds and the tides occasion no small embarrassment to the fishermen.

" The winds : For this is the central poipt bet/veen t^ie three great lakes which surround it, and which seem incessantly tossing ball at each other. For no sooner has the wind ceased blowing from Lake Michigan than Lake Huron hurls back the gale it has received, and Lake Superior in its turn sends forth its blasts from another quarter, and thus the game is played from one to the other ; and as these lakes are of vast extent, the winds cannot be otherwise than boisterous, especially during the autumn."

From this letter we conclude that Marquette must have come to Michilimackinac in 1670, as he spent a winter here before the establishment of his mission. Point Iroquois, on the north side. of the Straits, was selected as the most suitable place for the proposed mission, and there, in 1671, a rude and unshapely chapel, its sides of logs and its roof of bark, was raised as " the first sylvan shrine of Catholicity," at Mackinaw. This primitive temple was as simple as the faith taught by the devoted missionary, and had nothing to impress the senses, nothing to win by a dazzling exterior the wayward children of the forest. The new mission was called St. Ignatius, in honor of the founder of the Jesuit order, and to this day the name is perpetuated in the point upon which the mission stood.

During the summer of 1671 an event occurred of no common interest and importance in the annals of French history in America, but which, after all, was not destined to exert any lasting influence. Mutual interests had long conspired to unite the Algonquins of the west and the French in confirmed friendship. The Algonquins desired commerce and protection ; the French, while thev coveted the rich furs which these tribes brought them, coveted also an extension of political power to the utmost limits of the western wilderness. Hence, Nicholas lO OLD AND NEW MACKINAC.

Perrot had been commissioned as the agent of the French government, to call a general Congress of the lake tribes at the Falls of St. Mary. The invitations of this enthusiastic agent of the Bourbon dynasty reached the tribes of Lake Superior, and were carried even to the wandering hordes of the remotest north. Nor were the nations of the south neglected. Obtaining an escort of Potawatomies at Green Bay, Perrot, the first of Europeans to visit that place, repaired to the Miamis at Chicago, on the same mission of friendship.

In May the day appointed for the unwonted spectacle of the Congress of Nations arrived. St. Lusson was the French official, and Allouez his interpreter. From the head waters of the St. Lawrence, from the Mississippi, from the Great Lakes, and even from the Red River, envoys of the wild republicans of the wildei-ness were present. And brilliantly clad officers from the veteran armies of France, with here and there a Jesuit missionary, completed the vast assembly. A cross was set up, a cedar post marked with the French lilies, and the I'epresentatives of the wilderness tribes were informed that they were under the protection of the French king. Thus, in the presence of the ancient races of America, were the authority and the faith of France uplifted in the very heart of our Continent. But the Congress proved only an echo soon to die awa}^, and left no abiding monument to mark its glory.

Marquette has left no details of his first year's labor in his new mission, but during the second year he wrote the following letter to Father Dablon. This letter has been published from the manuscript, by John G. Shea, in his " Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi," and to him we are indebted for it :

" Rev. Father, — The Hurons, called Tionnontateronnons or Petun nation, who compose the mission of St. Ignatius at Michilimackinong, began last year near the chapel a fort enclosing all their cabins. They have come regularly to prayers, and have listened more readily to the instructions I gave them, consenting to what I required to prevent their disorders

JESUIT HISTORY. II and abominable customs. We must have patience with untutored minds, who know only the devil, who, like their ancestors, have been his slaves, and who often relapse into the sins in which they were nurtured. God alone can fix these fickle minds, and place and keep them in his grace, and touch their hearts while we stammer at their ears.

" The Tionnontateronnons number this year three hundred and eighty souls, and besides sixty Outaouasinagaux have joined them. Some of these came from the mission of St. Francis Xavier, where Father Andre wintered with them last year; they are quite changed from what I saw them at Lapointe ; the zeal and patience of that missionary have gained to the faith those hearts which seemed to us most averse to it. They now wish to be Christians ; they bring their children to the chapel to be baptized, and come regularly to prayers.

" Having been obliged to go to St. Marie du Sault with Father AUouez last summer, the Hurons came to the chapel during my absence as regularly as if I had been there, the girls singing what prayers they knew. They counted the days of my absence, and constantly asked when I was to be back. I was absent only fourteen days, and on my arrival all assembled at chapel, some coming even from their fields, which are at a very considerable distance.

" I went readily to their pumpkin feast, where I instructed them, and invited them to thank God, who gave them food in plenty, while other tribes that had not yet embraced Christianity were actually struggling with fiimine. I ridiculed dreams, and urged those who had been baptized to acknowledge Him whose adopted children they were. Those who gave the feast, though still idolaters, spoke in high terms of Christianity, and openly made the sign of the cross before all present. Some young men, whom they had'tried by ridicule to prevent from doing it, persevered, and make the sign of the cross in the gi-eatest assemblies, even when I am not present.

" An Indian of distinction among the Hurons, having invited me to a feast where the chiefs were, called them severally by name, and told them that he wished to declare his thoughts, that all might know it, namely, that he was a Christian ; that he renounced the god of dreams and all their lewd dances ; that the black-gown was master of his cabin ; and that for nothing that might happen would he forsake his resolution. Delighted to hear this, I spoke more strongly than I had ever yet done, telling them that my only design was to put them in the way of heaven ; that for this alone I remained among them ; that this obliged me to assist them at the peril of my life. As soon as anything is said in an assembly, it is immediately divulged through all the cabins, as I saw in this case by the assiduity of some in coming to prayers, and by the malicious efforts of others to neutralize my instructions.

" Severe as the winter is, it does not prevent the Indians from coming to the chapel. Some come twice a day, be the wind or cold what it may. Last fall I began to instruct some to make general confessions of their whole life, and to prepare others who had never confessed since their baptism. I would not have supposed that Indians could have given so exact an account of all that had happened in the course of their life ; but it was seriously done, as some took two weeks to examine themselves. Since then I have perceived a marked change, so that they will not go even to ordinary feasts without asking my permission.

" I have this year baptized twenty-eight children, one of which had been brought from Ste. Marie du Sault, without having received that sacrament, as the Rev. F. Henry Nouvel informed me, to put me on my guard. Without my knowing it, the child fell sick, but God permitted that while instructing in my cabin two important and sensible Indians, one asked me whether such a sick child was baptized. I went at once, baptized it, and it died the next night. Some of the other children too, are dead, and now in heaven. These are the consolations which God sends us, which make us esteem our life more happy as it is more wretched.

" This, Father, is all I have to give about this mission ;

JESUIT HISTORY. I3 where minds are now more mild, tractable, and better disposed to receive instruction, than in any other part. I am ready, however, to leave it in the hands of another missionary to go on your order to seek new nations toward the south sea who are still unknown to us, and to teach them of our great God, whom they have hitherto unknown."

While Marquette was thus engaged in the labors of his mission, his project for discovering and exploring the Mississippi had attracted the attention of the French government, and through the influence of M. Talon, the intendant, a resolution had been formed to act in the matter at once. It is worthy of remark that the French, supposing that the Mississippi might empty into the Gulf of California, hoped in discovering that river to find also a short passage across the continent to China. Having once formed the resolution to go in search of the Great River, they were not long in making all needful preparation for putting it into execution.

Sieur Joliet was designated as the agent of the French government to carry out the design, and Marquette was to accompany him. But little is known of Joliet except in his connection with this one enterprise, which alone is sufficient to immortalize his name. The following extract is taken from Shea's " Discovery and Exploration of the Tvlississippi Valley." It is from the pen of Father Dablon, and will give sufficient information concerning him to serve the present purpose :

" They were not mistaken in their choice of the Sieur Joliet, for he was a young man, born in this country, and endowed with every quality that could be desired in such an enterprise. He possessed experience, and a knowledge of the languages of the Ottawa country, where he had spent several years ; he had the tact and prudence so necessary for the success of a voyage equally dangerous and difficult ; and, lastly, he had courage to fear nothing where all is to be feared. He accordingly fulfilled the expectations entertained of him, and if, after having passed through dangers of a thousand kinds, he had not unfortunately been wrecked in the very harbor — his canoe having upset below the Saut St. Louis, near Montreal, where he lost his men and papers, and only escaped, by a kind of miracle, with his life — the success of his voyage had left nothing to be desired."

When the Ottawa flotilla of 1672 brought back from Qiiebec the news that his long cherished desire was about to be gratified, Marquette exulted at the prospect before him. It involved danger and hardship ; the way was blocked up by hostile Indian tribes, and his health was already impaired by the trials and privations which had fallen to his lot, but no consideration of pei'sonal safety could deter him from his purpose. He even gloried in the prospect of martyrdom.

Joliet, at length, arrived at the mission, and together they spent the winter in making the necessary arrangements for the voyage. The following quotation is from Marquette's own narrative, as published by Shea :

" The day of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, whom I had always invoked since I have been in this Ottawa country, to obtain of God the grace to be able to visit the nations on the river Mississippi, was identically that on which M. Joliet arrived with orders of the Comte de Frontenac, our governor, and M. Talon, our intendant, to make this discovery with me. I was the more enraptured at this good news, as I saw my designs on the point of being accomplished, and myself in the happy necessity of exposing my life for the salvation of all these nations, and particularly for the Illinois, who had, when I was at Lapointe du St. Esprit, very earnestly entreated me to carry the word of God to their country.

" We were not long in preparing our outfit, although we w^ere embarking on a voyage the duration of which we could not foresee. Indian corn, with some dried meat, was our whole stock of provisions. With this we set out in two bark canoes, M. Joliet, myself, and five men, firmly resolved to do all and suffer all, for so glorious an enterprise.

" It was on the 17th of May, 1673, that we started from the mission of St. Ignatius, at Michilimackinac, where I then was. Our joy at being chosen for this expedition roused our courage, and sweetened the labor of rowing from morning till night. As we were going to seek unknown countries, we took all possible precautions, that, if our enterprise was hazardous, it should not be foolhardy. For this reason we gathered all possible information from Indians who had frequented those parts, and even from their accounts traced a map of all the new country, marking down the rivers on which we were to sail, the names of the nations and places through which we were to pass, the course of the great river, and what direction we should take when we got to it.

" Above all, I put our voyage under the protection of the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, promising her, that if she did us the grace to discover the great river, I would give it the name of Conception ; and that I would also give that name to the first mission which I should establish among tliese new nations, as I have actually done among the Illinois.

" With all these precautions, we made our paddles play merrily over a part of Lake Huron, and that of the Illinois, into the Bay of the Fetid (Green Bay) . The first nation that we met was that of the Wild Oats, (English, wild rice). I entered their river (Menomonie) to visit them, as we have preached the gospel to these tribes for some years past, so that thei"e are many good Christians among them.

" I informed these j^eople of the Wild Oats of my design of going to discover distant nations to instruct them in the mysteries of our Holy Religion ; they were very much surprised, and did their best to dissuade me. They told me that I would meet nations that never spare strangei's, but tomahawk them without any provocation ; that the war which had broken out among various nations on our route, exposed us to another evident danger — that of being killed by the war-parties wdiich are constantly in the field ; that the Great River is very dangerous, unless the difficult parts are known ; that it was full of frightful monsters, who swallowed up men and canoes together ; that there is even a demon there who can be heard from afar, who stops the passage and engulfs all who dare approach ;

j6 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC.

lastly, that the heat is so excessive in those countries that it would infallibly cause our death.

" I thanked them for their kind advice, but assured them that I could not follow it, as the salvation of souls was concerned ; that for them I should be too happy to lay down my life ; that I made light of their pretended demon ; that we would defend ourselves well enough against the river-monsters ; and, besides, we should be on our guard to avoid the other dangers with which they threatened us."

Space will not permit us to describe the journey of the adventurers in detail. We can only say that they proceeded to the head of Green Bay, entered Fox River, which they ascended to the portage, crossed over to the Wisconsin, and on the 17th day of June, feeling a joy that could not be expressed, entered the Mississippi. From the Wisconsin they descended to the Arkansas, whence they returned, satisfied that the Father of Rivers went not to the ocean east of Florida, nor yet to the Gulf of California. Arriving at the mouth of the Illinois, they entered that river, by which route they reached Lake Michigan at Chicago, and, coasting along the western shore of that lake, arrived at Green Bay before the end of September.

Here Joliet took his leave of Marquette and returned to Qiiebec, while Marquette remained at the mission to recruit his failing health before again entering upon his missionary labors. On his I'eturn, he had promised a tribe of the Illinois Indians that he would soon establish a mission among them, and this fact he doubtless communicated to his superiors at Montreal by the Ottawa flotilla of the following year. The return of the fleet of canoes brought him the necessary order, and on the 25th of October, 1674, he set out to establish his long projected Illinois mission. His former malady — dysentery — however, returned, and he was compelled, with his two companions, to winter on the Chicago River. In the spring of 1675 he was able to complete his journey and begin his mission, but a renewed and more vigorous attack of disease soon satisfied him that his labors on earth were nearly done.

He could not die, however, without again visiting his beloved mission at Mackinac and bowing in the chapel of St. Ignatius ; he tlierefore set out, hoping that his foiling strength would permit him to accomplish the journey. As he coasted along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, his strength gradually failed, and he was at last so weak that he could no longer help himself, but had to be lifted in and out of his canoe when they landed each night. At last, perceiving the mouth of a river, he pointed to an eminence near by, and told his companions that it was the place 'of his last repose. They wished, however, to pass on, as the weather was fine and the day not far advanced, but a wind soon arose which compelled them to return and enter the river pointed out by the dying missionary. They carried him .ashore, erected a little bark cabin, kindled a fire, and made him as comfortable as they could. Having heard the confessions of his companions, and encouraged them to rely with confidence on the protection of God, Marquette now sent them away, to take the repose they so much needed.

Two or three hours afterward he felt his end approaching, and summoned his companions to his side. Taking his crucifix from around his neck, and placing it in their hands, he pronounced in a firm voice, his profession of faith, and thanked the Almighty for the favor of permitting him to die a Jesuit, a missionary, and alone. Then, his face all radiant with joy, and his eyes raised, as if in ecstasy, above his crucifix, with the words "Jesus" and "Mary" upon his lips, he passed from the scene of his labors to his rest in heaven. After the first outbursts of grief were over, his companions arranged his body for burial, and, to the sound of his little chapel bell, bore it slowly to the spot which he himself had designated, where they committed it to the earth, raising a large cross to mark his last resting place. This occurred on the iSth day of May, 1675, in the thirty-eighth year of his ?ge.

Two years later, and almost on the anniversary of this event, a party of Indians whom Marquette had himself instructed at Lapointe, visited his grave, on their return from l8 OLD AND NEW MACKINAC.