Red Wing City (part 1 of 6)

The Northwest Territory

Virginia, in accordance with the resolution of Congress, on the 2d day of January, 1781, agreed to yield her western lands to the United States upon certain conditions, which Congress would not accede to, and the Act of Cession on the part of the Old Dominion, failed, nor was anything further done until 1783. During all that time the colonies were busily engaged in the struggle with the mother country, and in consequence thereof but little heed was given to the western settlements. Upon the 16th of April, 1781, the first birth north of the Ohio Eiver of the American parentage occurred, being that of Mary Heckewelder, daughter of the widely known Moravian missionary, whose band of Christian Indians suffered in after years a horrible massacre by the hands of the frontier settlers, who had been exasperated by the murder of several of their neighbors, and in their rage committed, without regard to humanity, a deed which forever afterwards cast a shade of shame upon their lives. For this and kindred outrages on the part of the whites, the Indians committed many deeds of cruelty which darken the years of 1771 and 1772 in the historv of the Northwest.

During the year 1782 a number of battles among the Indians and frontiersmen occurred, and between the Moravian Indians and the Wyandots. In these horrible acts of cruelty were practiced on the captives, many of such dark deeds transpiring under the leadership of the notorious frontier outlaw, Simon Girty, whose name, as well as those of his brothers, was a terror to women and children. These occurred chiefly in the Ohio valleys. Cotemporary with them were several engagements in Kentucky, in which the famous Daniel Boone engaged, and who often by his skill and knowledge of Indian warfare, saved the outposts from cruel destruction. By the close of the year victory had perched upon the American banner, and on the 30th of November, provisional articles of peace had been arranged between the Commissioners of England and her unconquerable colonies. Cornwallis had been defeated on the 19th of October preceding, and the liberty of America was assured. On the 19th of April following, the anniversary of the battle of Lexington, peace was proclaimed to the army of the United States, and on the 3d of the next September, the definite treaty which ended our revolutionary struggle Was concluded. By the terms of that treaty, the boundaries of the West were as follows : On the north, the line was to extend along the center of the Great Lakes ; from the western point of Lake Superior to Long Lake; thence to the Lake of the Woods; thence to the head of the Mississippi River; down its center to the 31st parallel of latitude ; thence on that line east to the head of the Appalachicola River; down its center to its junction with

Following the cessation of hostilities with England, several posts were still occupied by the British in the North and West. Among these was Detroit, still in the hands of the enemj^. Numerous engagements with the Indians throughout Ohio and Indiana occurred, upon whose lands adventurous whites would settle ere the title had been acquired by the proper treaty.

To remedy this latter evil, Congress appointed commissioners to treat with the natives and purchase their lands, and prohibited the settlement of the territory until this could be done. Before the close of the year another attempt was made to capture Detroit, which was, however, not pushed ; and Virginia, no longer feeling the interest in the Northwest she had formerly done, withdrew her troops, having on the 20th of December preceding authorized the whole of her possessions to be deeded to the United States. This was done on the 1st of March following, and the Northwest Territory passed from the control of the Old Dominion. To Gen. Clark and his soldier?, however, she gave a tract of one hundred and fifty thousand acres of land, to be situated anywhere north of the Ohio wherever they chose to locate them. They selected the region opposite the falls of the Ohio, where is now the dilapidated village of Clarksville, about midway between the cities of New Albany and Jeffersonville, Indiana.

While the frontier remained thus, and Gen. Haldimand at Detroit refused to evacuate, alleging that he had no orders from his king to do so, settlers were rapidly gathering about the inland forts. In the spring of 1784, Pittsburgh was regularly laid out, and from the journal of Arthur Lee, who passed through the town soon after on his way to the Indian council at Fort Mcintosh, we suppose it was not very prepossessing in appearance. He says :

" Pittsburgh is inhabited almost entirely by Scots and Irish, who live in paltry log houses, and are as dirty as if in the north of Ireland or even Scotland. There is a great deal of trade carried on, the goods being brought at the vast expense of forty -five shillings per pound from Philadelphia and Baltimore. They take in the shops, flour, wheat, skins and money. There are in the town four attorneys, two doctors, and not a priest of any persuasion, nor church nor chapel."

Kentucky at this time contained thirty thousand inhabitants, and was beginning to discuss measures for a separation from Virginia. A land office was opened at Louisville, and measures were adopted to take defensive precaution against the Indians who were yet, in some instan- ces, incited to deeds of violence by the British. Before the close of this year, 1784, the military claimants of land began to occupy them, although no entries were recorded until 1787.

The Indian title to the Northwest was not yet extinguished. They held large tracts of lands, and in order to prevent bloodshed Congress adopted means for treaties with the original owners and provided for the surveys of the lands gained thereby, as well as for those north of the Ohio, now in its possession. On January 31, 1786, a treaty was made with the Wabash Indians. The treaty of Fort Stanwix had been made in 1784. That at Fort Mcintosh in 1785, and through these much land was gained. The Wabash Indians, however, afterward refused to comply with the provisions of the treaty made with them, and in order to compel their adherence to its provisions, force was used. During the year 1786, the free navigation of the Mississippi came up in Congress, and caused various discussions, which resulted in no definite action, only serving to excite speculation in regard to the western lands. Congress had promised bounties of land to the soldiers of the Revolution, but owing to the unsettled condition of affairs along the Mississippi respecting its navigation, and the trade of the Northwest, that body had, in 1783, declared its inability to fulfill these promises until a treaty could be concluded between the two governments. Before the close of the year 1786, however, it was able, through the treaties with the Indians, to allow some grants and. the settlement thereon, and on the 14th of September Connecticut ceded to the General Government the tract of land known as the " Connecticut Reserve,1' and before the close of the following year a large tract of land north of the Ohio was sold to a company, who at once took measures to settle it. By the provisions of this grant, the company were to pay the United States one dollar per acre, subject to a deduction of one-third for bad lands and other contingencies. They received 750,000 acres, bounded on the south by the Ohio, on the east by the seventh range of townships, on the west by the sixteenth range, and on the north by a line so drawn as to make the grant complete without the reservations. In addition to this, Congress afterward granted 100,000 acres to actual settlers, and 214,285 acres as army bounties under the resolutions of 1789 and 1790.

While Dr. Cutler, one of the agents of the company, was pressing its claims before Congress, that body was bringing into form an ordinance for the political and social organization of this territory. When the cession was made by Virginia, in 1784, a plan was offered, but rejected. A motion had been made to strike from the proposed plan the prohibition of slavery, which prevailed. The plan was then dis- cussed and altered, and finally passed unanimously, with the exception of South Carolina. By this proposition, the territory was to have been divided into States by parallels and meridian lines. This, it was thought, would make ten States, which were to have been named as follows - beginning at the northwest corner and going southwardly: Sylvania, Michigania, Chersonesus, Assenisipia, Mesopotamia, Illenoia, Saratoga, Washington, Polypotamia and Pelisipia.

There was a more serious objection to this plan than its category of names - the boundaries. The root of the difficulty was in the resolution of Congress, passed in October, 1780, which fixed the boundaries of the ceded lands to be from one hundred to one hundred and fifty miles square. These resolutions being presented to the legislatures of Virginia and Massachusetts, they desired a change, and in July, 1786, the subject was taken up in Congress, and changed to favor a division' into not more than five States, and not less than three. This was approved by the State Legislature of Virginia. The subject of the government was again taken up by Congress in 1786, and discussed throughout that year and until July, 1787, when the famous "Compact of 1787" was passed, and the foundation of the government of the Northwest laid. This compact is fully discussed and explained in the history of Illinois, in this book, and to it the reader is referred.

The passage of this act and the grant to the New England Company was soon followed by an application to the government by John Cleves Symmes, of New Jersey, for a grant of the land between the Miamis. This gentleman had visited these lands soon after the treaty of 1786, and, being greatly pleased with them, offered similar terms to those given to the New England Company. The petition wa9 referred to the Treasury Board, with power to act, and a contract was concluded the following year. During the autumn the directors of the New England Company were preparing to occupy their grant the following spring, and, upon the 23d of November, made arrangements for a party of forty-seven men, under the superintendency of Gen. Rufus Putnam, to set forward. Six boat-builders were to leave at once, and on the first of January the surveyors and their assistants, twenty-six in number, were to meet at Hartford and proceed on their journey westward; the remainder to follow as soon as possible. Congress, in the meantime, upon the 3d of October, had ordered seven hundred troops for defense of the western settlers, and to prevent unauthorized intrusions ; and two days later appointed Arthur St. Clair Governor of the Territory of the Northwest.

American Settlements

The civil organization of the Northwest Territory was now complete, and notwithstanding the uncertainty of Indian affairs, settlers from the East began to come into the country rapidly. The New England Company sent their men during the winter of 1787-8, pressing on over the Alleghenies by the old Indian path which had been opened into Braddock's road, and which has since been made a national turnpike from Cumberland westward. Through the weary winter days they toiled on, and by April were all gathered on the Yohiogany, where boats had been built, and at once started for the Muskingum. Here they arrived on the 7th of that month, and unless the Moravian missionaries be regarded as the pioneers of Ohio, this little band can justly claim that honor.

General St. Clair, the appointed Governor of the Northwest, not having yet arrived, a set of laws were passed, written out, and published by being nailed to a tree in the embryo, town, and Jonathan Meigs appointed to administer them.

Washington, in writing of this, the first American settlement in the Northwest, said : " No colony in America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as that which has just commenced at Muskingum. Information, property and strength will be its characteristics. I know many of its settlers personally, and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community."

On the 2d of July a meeting of the directors and agents was held on the banks of the Muskingum, " for the purpose of naming the new-born city and its squares." As yet the settlement was known as the " Muskingum," but that was now changed to the name Marietta, in honor of Marie Antoinette. The square upon which the block-houses stood was called " Campus Martius; " square number 19, " Capitolium; " square number 61, " Cecilia; " and the great road through the covert way, " Sacra Via." Two days after, an oration was delivered by James M. Varnum, who, with S. H. Parsons and John Armstrong, had been appointed to the judicial bench of the territory on the 16th of October, 1787. On July 9, Governor St. Clair arrived, and the colony began to assume form. The act of 1787 provided two district grades of government for the Northwest, under the first of which the whole power was invested in the hands of a governor and three district judges. This was immediately formed upon the governor's arrival, and the first laws of the colony passed on the 25th of July. These provided for the organization of the militia, and on the next day appeared the governor's proclamation, erecting all that country that had been ceded by the Indians east of the Scioto River into the county of Washington. From that time forward, notwithstanding the doubts yet existing as to the Indians, all Marietta prospered, and on the 2d of September the first conrt of the territory was held with imposing ceremonies.

The emigration westward at this time was very great. The commander at Fort Harmer, at the mouth of the Muskingum, reported four thousand five hundred persons as having passed that post between February and June, 1788 - many of whom would have purchased of the " Associates," as the New England company was called, had they been ready to receive them.

On the 26th of November, 1787, Symmes issued a pamphlet stating the terms of his contract and the plan of sale he intended to adopt. In January, 1788, Matthias Denman, of New Jersey, took an active interest in Symmes' purchase, and located among other tracts the sections upon which Cincinnati 'has been built. Retaining one-third of this locality, he sold the other two-thirds to Robert Patterson and John Filson, and the three, about August, commenced to lay out a town on the spot, which was designated as being opposite Licking River, to the mouth of which they proposed to have a road cut from Lexington. The naming of the town is thus narrated in the " Western Annals :" " Mr. Filson, who had been a schoolmaster, was appointed to name the town, and, in respect to its situation, and as if with a prophetic perception of the mixed race that were to inhabit it in after days, he named it Losantiville, which, being interpreted, means: ville, the town; anti, against or opposite to ; os, the mouth; L. of Licking."

Meanwhile, in July, Symmes got thirty persons and eight four-horse teams' under way for the West. These reached Limestone (now Maysville) in September, where were several persons from Redstone. Here Mr. Symmes tried to found a settlement, but the great freshet of 1789 caused the " Point," as it was and is yet called, to be fifteen feet under water, and the settlement to be abandoned. The little band of settlers removed to the mouth of the Miami. Before Symmes and his colony left the "Point," two settlements had been made on his purchase. The first was by Mr. Stiltes, the original projector of the whole plan, who, with a colony of Redstone people, had located at the mouth of the Miami, whither Symmes went with his Maysville colony. Here a clearing had been made by the Indians owing to the great fertility of the soil. Mr. Stiltes with his colony came to this place on the 18th of November, 1788, with twenty-six persons, and, building a block-house, prepared to remain through the winter. They named the settlement

On the 4th of March, 1789, the Constitution of the United States went into operation, and on April 30, George Washington was inaugurated President of the American people, and during the next summer an Indian war was commenced by the tribes north of the Ohio. The President at first used pacific means; but these failing, he sent General Harmer against the hostile tribes. He destroyed several villages, but was defeated in two battles, near the present city of Fort Wayne, Indiana. From this time till the close of 1795, the principal events were the wars with the various Indian tribes. In 1796, General St. Clair was appointed in command, and marched against the Indians ; but while he was encamped on a stream, the St. Mary, a branch of the Maumee, he was attacked and defeated with a loss of six hundred men.

General Wayne was now sent against the savages. In August, 1794, he met them near the rapids of the Maumee, and gained a complete victory. This success, followed by vigorous measures, compelled the Indians to sue for peace, and on the 30th of July, the following year, the treaty of Greenville was signed by the principal chiefs, by which a large tract of country was ceded to the United States.

Before proceeding in our narrative, we will pause to notice Fort Washington, erected in the early part of this war on the site of Cincinnati. Nearly all of the great cities of the Northwest, and indeed of the whole country, have had their nuclei in those rude pioneer structures, known as forts or stockades. Thus Forts Dearborn, Washington, Ponchartrain, mark the original sites of the now proud cities of Chicago, Cincinnati and Detroit. So of most of the flourishing cities east and west of the Mississippi. Fort Washington, erected by Doughty in 1790, was a rude but highly interesting structure. It was composed of a number of strongly built, hewed log cabins. Those designed for soldiers' barracks were a story and a half high, while those composing the officers quarters were more imposing and more conveniently arranged and furnished. The whole were so placed as to form a hollow square, enclosing about an acre of ground, with a block house at each of the four angles.

The logs for the construction of this fort were cut from the ground upon which it was erected. It stood between Third and Fourth streets of the present city (Cincinnati) extending east of Eastern Row, now Broadway, which was then a narrow alley, and the eastern boundary of the town as it was originally laid out. On the bank of the river, immediately in front of the fort, was an appendage of the fort, called the Artificer's Yard. It contained about two acres of ground, enclosed by small contiguous buildings, occupied by workshops and quarters of laborers. Within this enclosure there was a large two-story frame house, familiarly called the " Yellow House," built for the accommodation of the Quartermaster General. For many years this was the best finished and most commodious edifice in the Queen City. Fort Washington was for some time the headquarters of both the civil and military governments of the Northwestern Territory.

Following the consummation of the treaty, various gigantic land speculations were entered into by different persons, who hoped to obtain from the Indians in Michigan and Northern Indiana, large tracts of lands. These were generally discovered in time to prevent the outrageous schemes from being carried out, and from involving the settlers in war. On October 27, 1795, the treaty between the United States and Spain was signed, whereby the free navigation of the Mississippi was secured.

No sooner had the treaty of i'795 been ratified, than settlements began to pour rapidly into the West. The great event of the year 1796 was the occupation of that part of the Northwest, including Michigan, which was this year, under the provisions of the treaty, evacuated by the British forces. The United States, owing to certain conditions, did not feel justified in addressing the authorities in Canada in relation to Detroit and other frontier posts. When at last the British authorities were called to give them up, they at once complied, and General Wayne, who had done so much to preserve the frontier settlements, and who, before the year's close, sickened and died near Erie, transferred his headquarters to the neighborhood of the lakes, where a county named after him was formed, which included the northwest of Ohio, all of Michigan, and the northeast of Indiana. During this same year settlements were formed at the present city of Chillicothe, along the Miami from Middletown to Piqua, while in the more distant West, settlers and speculators began to appear in great numbers. In September, the city of Cleveland was laid out, and during the summer and autumn, Samuel Jackson and Jonathan Sharpless erected the first manufactory of paper - the " Redstone Paper Mill" - in the West. St. Louis contained some seventy houses, and Detroit over three hundred, and along the river, contiguous to it, were more than three thousand inhabitants, mostly French Canadians, Indians and half-breeds, scarcely any Americans venturing yet into that part of the Northwest.

known as Cincinnati, having been named so by Gov. St. Clair, and considered the capital of the Territory, - to nominate persons from whom the members of the Legislature were to be chosen, in accordance with a previous ordinance. This nomination being made, the Assembly adjourned until the 16th of the following September. From those named the President selected as members of the council, Henry Vandenburg, of Vincennes, Robert Oliver, of Marietta, James Findlay and Jacob Burnett, of Cincinnati, and David Vance, of Vanceville. On the 16th of September the Territorial Legislature met, and on the 24th the two houses were duly organized, Henry Vandenburg being elected President of the Council.

The message of Governor St. Clair was addressed to the Legislature September 20th, and on October 13th that body elected as a delegate to Congress Gen. William Henry Harrison, who received eleven of the votes cast, being a majority of one over his opponent, Arthur St. Clair, son of Gen. St. Clair.

The whole number of acts passed at ihis session, and approved by the governor, were thirty-seven. Eleven others were passed, but received his veto. The most important of those passed related to the militia, to the administration, and to taxation. On the 19th of December this protracted session of the first Legislature in the West was closed, and on the 30th of December the President nominated Charles Willing Bryd to the office of Secretary of the Territory vice Wm. Henry Harrison, elected to Congress. The Senate confirmed his nomination the next day.

Division Of The Northwest Territory

" In the three western countries there has been but one court having cognizance of crimes, in five years, and the immunity which offenders experience attracts as to an asylum, the most vile and abandoned criminals, and at the same time deters useful citizens from making settlements in such society. The extreme necessity of judiciary attention and assistance is experienced in civil as well as in criminal cases. * * * * To minister a remedy to these and other evils, it occurs to this committee that it is expedient that a division of said territory into two distinct and separate governments should be made ; and that such division be made by a line beginning at the mouth of the Great Miami River, running directly north until it intersects the boundary between the United States and Canada."

The report was accepted by Congress, and, in accordance with its suggestions, that body passed an act extinguishing the Northwest Territory, which act was approved May 7. Among its provisions were these :

" That from and after July 4 next, all that part of the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio River, which lies to the westward of a line beginning at a point on the Ohio, opposite to the mouth of the Kentucky River, and running thence to Fort Recovery, and thence north until it shall intersect the territorial line between the United States and Canada, shall, for the purpose of temporary government, constitute a separate territory, and be called the Indiana Territory."

" That until it shall otherwise be ordered by the Legislatures of the said Territories, respectively, Chillicothe, on the Scioto River, shall be the seat of government of the territory of the United States northwest of the Obio River; and that St. Vincennes, on the Wabash River, shall be the seat of government for the Indiana Territory."

Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison was appointed Governor of the Indiana Territory, and entered upon his duties about a year later. Connecticut also, about this time, released her claims to the reserve, and in March a law was passed accepting this cession. Settlements had been made upon thirty-five of the townships in the reserve, mills had been built, and seven hundred miles of road cut in various directions. On the 3d of November the General Assembly met at Chillicothe. Near the close of the year, the first missionary on the Connecticut Reserve came, who found no township containing more than eleven families. It was upon the first of October that the secret treaty had been made between Napoleon and the King of Spain, whereby the latter agreed to cede to France the province of Louisiana.

In January, 1802, the Assembly of the Northwestern Territory chartered the college at Athens. From the earliest dawn of the western colonies, education was promptly provided for, and as early as 1787, newspapers were issued from Pittsburgh and Kentucky, and largely read throughout the frontier settlements. Before the close of this year, the Congress of the United States granted to the citizens of the Northwestern Territory the formation of a State government. One of the provisions of the "compact of 1787" provided that whenever the number of inhabitants within prescribed limits exceeded 15,000, they should be entitled to a separate government. The prescribed limits of Ohio contained, from a census taken to ascertain the legality of the act, more than that number, and on the 30th of April, 1802, Congress passed the act defining its limits, and on the 29th of November the constitution of the new State of Ohio, so named from the beautiful river forming its southern boundary, came into existence. The exact limits of Lake Michigan were not then known, but the territory now included within the State of Michigan was wholly within the Territory of Indiana.

Gen. Harrison, while residing at Vincennes, made several treaties with the Indians, thereby gaining large tracts of lands. The next year is memorable in the history of the West for the purchase of Louisiana from France by the United States for $15,000,000. Thus, by a peaceful mode, the domain of the United States was extended over a large tract of country west of the Mississippi, and was for a time under the jurisdiction of the Northwest government, and, as has been mentioned in the early part of this narrative, was called the " New Northwest." The limits of this history will not allow a description of its territory. The same year large grants of land were obtained from the Indians, and the House of Representatives of the new State of Ohio signed a bill respecting the College Township in the district of Cincinnati.

Before the close of the year, Gen. Harrison obtained additional grants of lands from the various Indian nations in Indiana and the present limits of Illinois, and on the 18th of August, 1804, completed a treaty at St. Louis, whereby over 51,000,000 acres of lands were obtained from the aborigines. Measures were also taken to learn the condition of affairs in and about Detroit.

" The Town of Detroit - the charter, which is for fifteen miles square, was granted in the time of Louis XIV. of France, and is now, from the best information I have been able to get, at Quebec. Of those two hundred and twenty-five acres, only four are occupied by the town and Fort Lenault. The remainder is a common, except twentyfour acres, which were added twenty years ago to a farm belongiug to Win. Macomb. * * * A stockade incloses the town, fort aud citadel. The pickets, as well as the public houses, are in a state of gradual decay. . The streets are narrow, straight and regular, and intersect each other at right angles. The houses are, for the most part, low and inelegant."

During this year, Congress granted a township of land for the support of a college, and began to offer inducements for settlers in these wilds, and the country now comprising the State of Michigan began to fill rapidly with settlers along its southern borders. This same year, also, a law was passed organizing the Southwest Territory, dividing it into two portions, the Territory of New Orleans, which city was made the seat of government, and the District of Louisiana, which was annexed to the domain of Gen. Harrison.

On the 11th of January, 1805, the Territory of Michigan was formed; Wm. Hull was appointed governor, with headquarters at Detroit, the change to take effect on June 30. On the 11th of that month a fire occurred at Detroit, which destroyed almost every building in the place. When the officers of the new territory reached the post, they found it in ruins, and the inhabitants scattered throughout the countiy. Rebuilding, however, soon commenced, and ere long the town contained more houses than before the fire, and many of them much better built.

While this was being done, Indiana had passed to the second grade of government, and through her General Assembly had obtained large tracts of land from the Indian tribes. To all this the celebrated Indian, Tecumthe, or Tecumseh, vigorously protested, and it was the main cause of his attempts to unite the various Indian tribes in a conflict with the settlers. To obtain a full account of these attempts, the workings of the British, and the signal failure, culminating in the death of Tecumseh at the battle of the Thames, and the close of the war of 1812 in the Northwest, we will-step aside in our story, and relate the principal events of his life, and his connection with this conflict.

Tecumseh, And The War Of 1812

This famous Indian chief was born about the year 1768, not far from the site of the present city of Piqua, Ohio. His father, Puckeshinwa, was a member of the Kisopok tribe of the Swanoese nation, and his mother, Methontaske, was a member of the Turtle tribe of the same people. They removed from Florida about the middle of the last century to the birthplace of Tecumseh. In 1774, his father, who had risen to be chief, was slain at the battle of Point Pleasant, and not long after Tecumseh, by his bravery, became the leader of his tribe. In 1795 he was declared chief, and then lived at Deer Creek, near the site of the present city of Urbana. He remained here about one year, when he returned to Piqua, and in 1798, he went to White River, Indiana. In 1805, he and his brother, Laulewasikan (Open Door), who had announced himself as a prophet, went to a tract of land on the Wabash River, which had been given to them by the Pottawatomies and Kickapoos. From this date the chief comes into prominence. He was now about thirty-seven years of age, was five feet and ten inches in height, stoutly built, and possessed of enormous powers of endurance. His countenance was naturally pleasing, and he was, in general, devoid of those savage attributes possessed by most Indians. It is stated that he could read and write, and that he had a confidential secretary and adviser, named Billy Caldwell, a half-breed, who afterward became chief of the Pottawatomies. He occupied the first house built on the site of Chicago. At this time Tecumseh entered upon the great work of his life. He had long objected to the grants of land made by the Indians to the white people, and determined to unite all the Indian tribes into a league, in order that no treaties or grants of land could be made save by the consent of this confederation.

He traveled constantly, going from north to south ; from the south to the north ; everywhere urging the Indians to this step. He was a matchless orator, and his burning words had their effect.

Gen. Harrison, then Governor of Indiana, by watching the movements of the Indians became convinced that a grand conspiracy was forming, and made preparations to defend the settlements. Tecumseh's plan was similar to Pontiac's, elsewhere described, and to the cunning artifice of that chieftain was added his own sagacity.

During the year 1809, Tecumseh and the prophet were actively preparing for the work. In that year, Gen. Harrison entered into a treaty with the Delawares, Kickapoos, Pottawatomies, Miamis, Eel Eiver Indians and Weas, in which these tribes ceded to the whites certain lands upon the Wabash, to all of which Tecumseh entered a bitter protest, averring as one principal reason, that he did not want the Indians to give up any lands north and west of the Ohio River.

In August, 1810, Tecumseh visited General Harrison, at Vincennes, and held a council relating to the grievances of the Indians. Becoming unduly angry at this conference, he was dismissed from the village, and soon after departed to incite the southern Indian tribes to the conflict.

Gen. Harrison determined to move upon the chief's headquarters at Tippecanoe, and for this purpose went about sixty-five miles up the Wabash, where he built Fort Harrison. From this place he went to the prophet's town, where he informed the Indians he had no hostile intentions, provided they were true to the existing treaties. He encamped near the village early in October, and on the morning of November 7, he was attacked by a large force of the Indians, and the famous battle of Tippecanoe occurred. The Indians were routed and their town broken up. Tecumseh returning not long after, was greatly exasperated at his brother, the prophet, even threatening to kill him for rashly precipitating the war, and foiling his (Tecumseh's) plans.

Soon after his return from the South, Tecumseh sent word to Gen. Harrison that he was ready to visit the President, according to previous agreement, when he was informed by Gen. Harrison that he would not be permitted to go to Washington as a chief, as he desired. This decision of Gen. Harrison so wounded the proud spirit of Tecumseh, that the visit was never made.

In June of the following year, Tecumseh visited the Indian agent at Fort Wayne, to whom he disavowed any intention of making war against the United States, and severely reproached Gen. Harrison for marching against his people, To the agent's reply Tecumseh listened with cold indifference, and after making a. few general remarks, drew his blanket about him and departed from the council house with a haughty demeanor, and immediately departed for Fort Maiden, in Upper Canada, where he allied himself with the British standard.

He remained under the British Government and proved an effective ally lor the Crown during the War of 1812, which was now opened. It is said of him, however, that he was always humane in his treatment of prisoners of war, and that he never allowed his warriors to ruthlessly mutilate the bodies of those slain in battle, nor to wantonly murder a captive.

Soon after Perry's victory ©n Lake Erie, in the summer of 1813, active preparations were made to capture Fort Maiden. On the 27th of September, the American army, under Gen. Harrison, embarked for the shores of Canada, and in a few hours reached the point of destination. But the fort had been deserted. The British forces, under command of Gen. Proctor, had retreated to Sandwich, intending to gain the heart of Canada by the valley of the Thames. Gen. Harrison followed in pursuit, and reached Sandwich on the 29th. On the same day Gen. McArthur took possession of Detroit and the Territory of Michigan.

On the 5th of October Proctor's army was overtaken, and the battle of the Thames followed, on the 6th. Early in the engagement, Tecumseh, who was at the head of the Indian division or column of the "Red Coats," was killed, when his command became demoralized and panicstricken, and fled in every direction. The American victory was decisive, and practically closed the war in the Northwest.

It has never been definitely known who killed Tecumseh, although the credit of that act has generally been conceded to Colonel Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, who fired at the Indian chieftan with an oldfashioned horse pistol. [Colonel Johnson was the candidate for Vice President on the ticket with Martin Van Buren, in 1840.]

In January, 1807, Governor Hull, of Michigan Territory, made a treaty with the Indians, whereby all that peninsula was ceded to the United States. Before the close of the year, a stockade was built about Detroit. It was also during this year that Indiana and Illinois endeavored to obtain the repeal of that section of the compact of 1787, whereby slavery was excluded from the Northwest Territory. These attempts, however, all signally failed.

In 1809 it was deemed advisable to divide the Indiana Territory. This was done, and the Territory of Illinois was formed from the western part, the seat of government being fixed at Kaskaskia. The next year, the intentions of Tecumseh manifested themselves in open hostilities, and then began the events already narrated.

While this war was in progress, emigration to the West continued with surprising rapidity. In 1811, under Mr. Roosevelt, of New York, the first steamboat trip was made on the Ohio, much to the astonishment of the natives, many of whom fled in terror at the appearance of the " monster." It arrived at Louisville on the 10th day of October. At the close of the first week of January, 1812, it arrived at Natchez, after being nearly overwhelmed in the great earthquake which occurred while on its downward trip.

The battle of the Thames was fought on October 6, 1813. It effectually closed hostilities in the Northwest, although peace was not fully restored until July 22d, 1814, when a treaty was formed at Greenville, (now in Dorke county, Ohio,) under the direction of General Harrison, between the United States and the Indian tribes, in which it was stipulated that the Indians should cease hostilities against the Americans if the war were continued. Such, happily, was not the case, and on the 24th of December the treaty of Ghent was signed by the representatives of England and the United States. This treaty was followed the next year by treaties with various Indian tribes throughout the West and Northwest, and quiet was again restored in this part of the New World.

Until the year 1832, the commencement of the Black Hawk War, but few Indian hostilities were experienced. Roads were opened, canals were constructed, cities were built, common schools were established, and universities were founded, many of which, especially the Michigan University, have achieved a world-wide reputation. The people were becoming wealthy. The domain of the United States had been extended, and had the children of the forest duly appreciated the good intentions of the government, the record of many years would have been that of peace and continuous prosperity.

Abstract Of Territorial Title

The States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and that part of Minnesota lying on the east side of the Mississippi River, came from the Northwest Territory, which was ceded to the United States by Virginia in 1784. In 1800 Congress deemed it advisable, because of the vast extent of the territory and the difficulty of executing the laws, to divide the territory, and the Ohio Territory, with the boundaries substantially the same as those of the present State of Ohio, was created. Two years later (in 1802) Ohio was admitted into the Union as a sovereign and independent State.

The act of Congress creating the Territory of Ohio, extinguished the Northwest Territory, and declared that all the remaining part of the Northwest Territory should be called the Indiana Territory.

On the 30th day of June, 1805, the Indiana Territory was divided by the creation of Michigan Territory, with boundaries nearly the same as the present State of Michigan.

In 1835 a controversy arose between Michigan and Ohio, in regard to their boundary-line and the right to a strip of land to which both laid claim. At first there was danger of an armed collision, but the excitement passed away without bloodshed. A constitution was adopted and a State government elected in 1835, which were accepted by Congress June 15, 1836, and the State admitted into the Union with the condition that Michigan should accept the boundary claimed by Ohio. This condition was very unsatisfactory to the people of Michigan, but it was finally accepted under protest, December 15, 1836, and the State was allowed to record its vote for President that year, although it was not formally declared a State by act of Congress until January 26, 1837.

In 1809 Indiana Territory was again divided, and the Territory of Illinois created. On the 11th day of December, 1816, Indiana was formally declared to be a State of the American Union ; and two years later, in April, 1818, Illinois was admitted to the sisterhood of States.

In 1809 Wisconsin was included in the Territory of Illinois, as then formed. When Illinois was admitted into the Union in 1818, Wisconsin was still a wilderness, and was annexed to Michigan for such government as was needed. In 1836 the population had so increased that a territorial government was organized, which at first included a part of the upper peninsula of Michigan, the whole of Minnesota and Iowa, and that part of Dakota lying east of the Missouri and White Earth Rivers. When Michigan was admitted into the Union as a State, part of the Lake Superior region was set off to her ; and when the Territory of Iowa was formed in 1838, it included all the region west of the Mississippi. [Two sessions of the Wisconsin Legislature were held at Burlington, Iowa, in 1837 and 1838.] The first effort to procure the admission of Wisconsin to the Union, as a State, was made in 1846, when Congress passed a conditional e ibling act. A convention was held that year, and a constitution draf id, which was sent to Congress and submitted to the people for their acceptance. In 1847 Congress passed an act admitting the State under this constitution, but the people rejected the constitution on account of some objectionable features. Another convention was called December 15, 1847, and another constitution drafted and submitted to the people and ratified by them in March, 1848, and the State was admitted to the Union by act of Congress, May 29, 1S48. Under the jurisdiction of the Territorial government of Wisconsin, county organization was extended to that part of Minnesota lying on the east side of the Mississippi River. The county was called St. Croix, with Stillwater as the county seat.

In order to complete our chain of territorial title, it is now necessary to go back and bring up the history of the Louisiana purchase, from which much the larger part of the territory included in the State of Minnesota was derived.

What is known as the Louisiana Purchase, included nearly all the present States of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Dakota Territory, Nebraska, the most of Kansas and the Indian Territory ; part of Colorado, the most of Wyoming, and the whole of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington Territory.

As the reader already knows, the Upper Mississippi River and its principal tributaries, was first discovered and explored by the French. DeSoto and his followers were the first to visit the vicinity of New Orleans and to explore the country on both sides of the Lower Mississippi. DeSoto died and was buried in the waters of the Great River in 1543. Marquette and his Canadians descended to the mouth of the Mississippi in 1673, but did not establish any colony or settlement. LaSalle descended the river in 1682, and took possession of the country in the name of Louis XIV, King of France, and give it the name of Louisiana, but it is doubtful whether any colony was attempted previous to 1699, when Iberville and a number of followers commenced a settlement at Biloxi. In 1723 the capital of the colony was removed from New Biloxi to New Orleans. In 1762 France ceded the whole province, claimed by right of discovery and possession, to Spain, and for thirty-eight years the country remained under the control of the Spanish government. In 1800, at the treaty of Ildefonso, Spain restored the country to the possession of France, and in 1803 it was sold to the United States by Napoleon Bonaparte, then First Consul of France, for 60,000,000 francs, or $11,250,000, and the assumption of what was known as the " French Spoliation Claims," amounting to $3,750,000, and making the total cost to the United States of the vast extent of country described above, only $15,000,000.

In 1804, the southern portion of this great domain was erected into a separate territory, and called the Territory of Orleans. In 1810, that portion of the State of Louisiana lying between the Mississippi and the Amite and the Pearl River, which had been ceded by Spain, was annexed to the territory, and in April, 1812, the Territory of Orleans was admitted into the Union as the State of Louisiana.

In 1812, when Louisiana was admitted into the Union, the remaining territory was reorganized as Missouri Territory. In 1819, Missouri having framed a State constitution, Arkansas and the Indian Territory were organized as Arkansas Territory, and remained in that condition until June 15, 1836, when the State of Arkansas, with its present boundaries, was admitted into the Union as the twenty-fifth State.

[That portion of the Arkansas Territory not included within the boundaries of the State of Arkansas was set up as the Indian Territory, and is bounded as follows: On the east by the States of Missouri and Arkansas ; on the south by Texas ; on the west by Texas and New Mexico ; and on the north by Kansas. The territory remains for the most part in the ownership and exclusive possession of the Indians, the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Kiowas and Comanches being the strongest in numbers. The last named are untamed and uncivilized^ and still adhere to the customs of their tribal ancestors. The four former tribes or nations, especially the Cherokees, are, for the most part, highly civilized and educated. The Cherokees maintain their courts and court buildings; capital (Tahlequa) and capitol buildings; legislative assemblies, schools, churches, colleges, a newspaper, agricultural association, etc. Besides the tribes named, there are remnants of the Wyandotts, Pottawottomies, Sacs and Foxes, Delawares, Quapaws, Osages, and some others, who inhabit certain parts of the territory. A good many individuals of these several remnants of tribes - the Quapaws and Osages, perhaps, excepted - have entirely abandoned their ancient habits of idleness, are cultivating large farms, and are in every way well-to-do.]

In 1834, all that district north of Missouri and west of the Mississippi River was placed under the jurisdiction of Michigan Territory. When Wisconsin Territory was organized, in 1836, Iowa was made to form a part of it, and the seat of government was fixed at Burlington. June 12, 1838, Congress passed an act which became operative on the 3d day of July following, by which Iowa was separated from Wisconsin, and on the 3d day of March, 1845, Iowa [and Florida] was admitted into the Union as a sovereign and independent State.

Footprints Of French Occupancy

During the latter part of the seventeenth century, says Mr. Neill, the name of Nicholas 'Perrot was familiar, not only to the men of business and officers of government at Montreal and Quebec, but around the council fires of the Hurons, Ottawas, Otchagus, Ojibways, Miamis and Dahkotahs. He was a native of Canada, and had been accustomed from childhood to the excitement and incidents of border life, which, to a certain extent, prepared him for the wild scenes of which he was a witness and a participant in his later years.

"If the name of Joliet is worthy of preservation," continues the author from which we quote, " the citizens of the Northwest ought not to be willing to let the name of that man die who was the first of whom we have any account that erected a trading post on the Upper Mississippi."

Before LaSalle launched the Griffin on Lake Erie and commenced his career of discovery, Perrot, at the request of the authorities in Canada, who looked upon him as a man of great shrewdness and tact, visited the various Indian tribes of the Northwest to prepare them for participation in the grand council or convocation between white men and Indians at Sault Ste. Marie, in May, 1671. That visit made Perrot acquainted, not only with the Indians, their habits and customs, but with the country ; and when the council was held, he became the interpreter between the French envoy, St. Sussin, and the aborigines, thus giving him character and influence among the people with whom he was afterwards associated as trader.

The accounts Perrot gave of the country he visited when inviting the Indians to the council of which we have just written, attracted the attention of LaSalle, and inspired him to undertake those enterprises that gave distinction to his name. These explorations also unfolded to

Monsieur Perrot the wonderful beauty of the Minnesota country, and influenced him to establish himself as a trader among the Dakotas a few years later. Referring to the theatre of Perrot's operations, Neill's history of Minnesota appropriately and truthfully remarks :

" One of the most picturesque scenes in North America is the approach to Lake Pepin. For miles the steamboat ascending the Mississippi glides through an extended vista, crowned in the distance by an amphitheatre of hills which define the basin of the lake.

" In the summer the islands of the river, luxuriant with vegetation, and the banks flanked by abrupt bluffs of limestone, with cedar trees standing like sentinels wherever roothold can be found, make an impression which the traveler can not erase in a lifetime.

"Occasionally these steep walls of stone recede with their fanciful outline of castles and battlements, and prairies sufficiently elevated to be secure from the inundations of spring, appear, which were enticing spots to the ancient voyageur after a long and wearisome day's paddle in his frail canoe.

"Just below Lake Pepin, on the west shore, opposite the mouth of the Chippewa River, is one of those beautiful plateaux, which captivated Nicholas Perrot, who had been commissioned by the governor of Canada as commandant of the West" - all of which, at that time, was claimed by France.

There are no records to show that Perrot visited this region previous to 1683. Sometime in that year, however, accompanied by twenty other bold and daring Frenchmen, he was voyaging along the Mississippi River, and impressed with the peculiar and attractive beauty of the country, they landed their fleet of canoes at the foot of Lake Pepin, determined to make that place the scene of their operations. If Perrot had previously visited Lake Pepin, or any part of the adjacent country, the fact is lost to history, as are the names of his daring companions. In that year, however, and immediately after their arrival, they proceeded to the erection of a rude log fort, which was the first Europeanfashioned structure erected in any part of all that vast region of country included in the Louisiana purchase. A generation passed before New Orleans, " two thousand miles lower down the Mississippi, was founded." Mr. Neill continues : " This primitive establishment, within the limits of the State of Minnesota, on some of the maps is appropriately named Fort Perrot." On a map of the year 1700 it was called Fort Bon Secours. Three years later, on a map published in Paris by William de ITsle, it was marked Fort LeSueur.

authority because of his opposition to the " ecclesiastics, who deplored the ill effects of rum and licentious ' coureurs des hois' upon the morals of the savages, and desired both excluded from the country.1' Frontenac " had no interest in Christianity, and still less confidence in the Jesuits. In a communication to the government he bluntly said to Oobert, the minister, ' to speak frankly to you, they think as much about the conversion of beavers as of souls. The majority of their missions are mockeries."' In 1683 Frontenac was re-commissioned as Governor of Canada, and soon after assuming the duties of the office, he "issued orders that all Frenchmen in the Upper Mississippi country should return to Mackinaw." In consonance with this order, Perrot abandoned his fort, and it remained unoccupieduntil 1688, when he returned with forty men to its re-occupation. In May of the next year Perrot formally claimed the country in the name of his king, and issued the following pronunciamento, which is the first official document relating to Minnesota, and consequently worthy of preservation:

"Nicholas Perrot, commanding for the king, at the post of the Nadouessioux,* commissioned by Marquis Denonville, Governor and Lieutenant-Governor of all New France, to manage the interest of commerce among all the Indian tribes and people of the Bay des Puants (Green Bay,) Nadouessioux (Dahkotahs,) Mascoutins and other Western nations of the Upper Mississippi, and to take possession in the king's name of all the places where he has heretofore been and whither he will go.

" We, this day, the eighth of May, one thousand six hundred and eighty-nine, do, in the presence of the Reverend Father Marest of the Society of Jesus, missionary among the Nadouessioux; of Monsieur de Borieguillot [Charlevoix writes Boisguillot,] commanding the French in the neighborhood of the Ouiskonchef on the Mississippi; Augustine Legardeur, Esquire, Sieur de Caumont, and of Messieurs LeSueur, Herbert, Lemire and Blein,

" Declare to all whom it may concern, that they being come from the Bay des Puants, and the Lake of the Ouiskonches, and to the river Mississippi, we did transport ourselves to the country of the Nadouessioux on the border of the river St. Croix, J and at the mouth of the river St. Pierre, § on the bank of which were the Mantantans, and farther up to the interior to the Northeast of the Mississippi, as far as the Menchokatonx (M'daywawkawtwawns,) with whom dwell the majority of the Songeskitons, and other Nadouessioux, who are to the northeast of the Mississippi, to take possession for, and in the name of the king, of countries and rivers inhabited by the said tribes, and of which they are proprietors. The present act done in our presence, signed with our hand and subscribed."

* On the first of September, 1678, Daniel Greysolon du Suth, a native of Lyons, left Quebec, to explore the country of the Assineboines and Dahkotahs. On the 2nd of July, 1679, he caused his king's arms to be planted in the "great village of Nadouessioux (Dahkotahs,) called Kathio. where no Frenchman had ever been; also, at Songaskicons and Houetbalons, 120 leagues distant from the former. Du Suth also built the first trading post on Lake Superior, beyond Sault St. Marie. The site of this post was at the mouth of Pigeon River. The post was built of pine logs. - Neill.

Frontenac. The site of this post is on an island on the west side of the channel of the Mississippi River, about eight miles above Red Wing, and is therefore in Goodhue county. The island was easily accessible by canoes, yet very retired. The fort was erected as a barrier and protection against hostile Indians. Referring to its location, Charlevoix said: "The island has a beautiful prairie, and the French of Canada have made it a channel of commerce for the western posts, and many pass the winter here, because it is a good country for hunting." It is said that the foundation of this old fort is still pretty clearly outlined. Its location, at least, is well known to many of the residents of Goodhue county, whose farms are in the near vicinity of the island upon which it was built.

The third fort was completed on the 14th of October, 1700, and was located at the mouth of St. Remi, a small tributary of Blue Earth River. It was founded by LeSueur, who visited that country to search for copper. This fort was " called L'Huiller, after the Farmer-General in Paris, who had aided the project " of searching for copper mines.

The fourth and last French post or fort, of which there is any known record, was built by LaPerriere du Boucher, in the fall of 1727. This post was located on the Minnesota side of the Mississippi, opposite Maiden Rock. Boucher is known to American history as the leader of the Indian attack on Haverhill, Massachusetts, a few years before the building of this fort. Haverhill was completely sacked by the red fiends and their devilish white leader. The puritan minister of the village was killed, his wife was scalped, and the brains of their infant child dashed out against the ground.

Fort Snelling Advance Guard Of American Occupancy

"On the 10th of February, 1819," says Mr. Neill, in his History of Minnesota, " an order was issued from the War Department, concentrating the Fifth Regiment of Infantry at Detroit, with a view to transportation by way of Fox and Wisconsin rivers to Prairie du Chien. After garrisoning that post and Rock Island, the remainder were to proceed to the mouth of the Minnesota, then designated as the Saint Peter's, to establish a post at which the headquarters of the regiment were to be located. About the time of this order, the portion of Illinois territory not included within the State of that name was attached to Michigan, of which Lewis Cass was governor. Crawford county,

Wisconsiu, was organized under an act of the territorial legislature of Michigan, approved October 16, 1818,* and when the Fifth Regiment above quoted, set out from Detroit for its new field of service on the banks of the Mississippi, Colonel Leavenworth, its commander, was entrusted with commissions in blank for the county officers. He was also empowered to set the machinery of the county in motion, and by form of election or otherwise, submit the choice of officers to the inhabitants. After some difficulty, he succeeded in getting John W. Johnson, United States factor, to consent to serve as chief justice of the county court ; Michael Brisbois and Francis Bouthillier were chosen as associates ; Wilfred Owens was appointed judge of probate ; John S. Findlay was designated as clerk of the court ; and Thomas McNair was selected to serve as sheriff."

After completing this trust, Colonel Leavenworth left Prairie du Chien on Sunday morning, the eighth of August, with a detachment of ninety-eight men, twenty men as laborers, boatmen, etc., and fourteen batteaux and two large keel boats, for the site of the first American fort to be erected within the limits of Minnesota. In consequence of the low stage of water which prevailed at that time, more than a month was consumed in making the trip, as the expedition did not arrive at its point of destination until the seventeenth of September. While rude huts and pickets were being erected, the officers, and such of their wives and children as accompanied them, lived in the large boats." " Before the quarters were completed," remarks Minnesota's historian (Neill,) the reign of winter was felt, and the removal from the open boats to the log cabins, plastered with clay, was considered a privilege." During the winter the scurvy appeared among the troops, f and raged so extensively, that for a few days military duty was suspended. It is said that " so sudden was the attack, that soldiers apparently in good health when they retired at night, were found dead in the morning. One man who was relieved from his tour of sentinel duty, and stretched himself upon a bench, when he was called four hours after to resume his duties, was found lifeless."

In the month of May, 1820, the command " entered into summer encampment at a spring not far from the old Baker trading house. The camp was named Coldwater."

Colonel Leavenworth remained in command at the new cantonment until August, 1820, when he was relieved by Colonel Josiah Snelling, and on the 10th of September following the corner stone of Fort St.

Anthony was lowered to its place. The first barracks were log structures. When the winter of 1820-21 came in, no part of the fort was far enough advanced to afford protection from the cold and storms, and the troops were forced to retreat to the quarters occupied during the previous winter.

The pine lumber used in the construction of the fortifications was cut on Rum River by the soldiers, and was the first ever cut in the territory.

In the fall of 1822, the fort was so far completed as to admit of its occupancy, and from that time to the present it has never been unoccupied.

During the summer of 1820, Governor Cass, of Michigan ; Dr. Wolcott, Indian agent at Chicago and surgeon ; Captain Douglass, military engineer ; H. R. Schoolcraft, mineralogist; Lieutenant Mackay ; James Doty, Esq., secretary; Major Forsyth, private secretary to the governor ; C. C. Trowbridge, topographer, besides the voyageurs, soldiers and Indians accompanying the party, and amounting in all to about forty persons, after visiting the upper part of the country, came down to Fort St. Anthony. The object of the visit (which originated with Governor Cass and was approved by John C. Calhoun, then Secretary of War,) was for the purpose of becoming better acquainted with the Indian tribes and the mineral and agricultural resources of this district of country, then included in Michigan Territory, of which Cass was governor. The party arrived at the garrison at " Camp Cold Water" on the 30th of July, when all was busy, and were received with the customary national salute. In addition to the work that had been done on the fort, ninety acres of ground had been broken and were under cultivation. Green peas had been ready for the table on the fifteenth of June ; corn was ripe enough for roasting ears on the fifteenth of July, and wheat was ripe for the harvest.

In 1824 General Winfield Scott visited Fort St. Anthony on a tour of inspection, and at his suggestion the name was changed to Fort Snelling, the reason for the change being fully explained in the following extract from his report to the War Department:

"This work, of which the War Department is in possession of a plan, reflects the highest credit on Col. Snelling, his ofBcers and men. The defenses, and for the most part the public storehouses, shops and quarters being constructed of stone, the whole is likely to endure as long as the post shall remain a frontier one. The cost of erection to the government has only been the amount for tools and iron, and the per diem paid to soldiers employed as mechanics.

" I wish to suggest to the General-in-Chief, and through him to the War Department, the propriety of calling this work Fort Snelling, as a just compliment to the meritorious officer under whom it has been erected.

geographically incorrect, as the work stands at the junction of the Mississippi and St. Peter rivers, eight miles bejow the great falls of the Mississippi, and called after St. Anthony."

The suggestion of Gen. Scott was adopted and orders were issued accordingly, since when the name of Fort St. Anthony only exists in history.

Col. Henry Leavenworth, under whose direction the beginning of Fort Snelling was commenced, was born in Connecticut, December 10, 1783, and was educated to the profession of the law. When the war of 1812 broke out he was commissioned Captain in the twenty-fifth Infantry in April, 1812; promoted to Major of ninth Infantry in August, 1813; brevetted Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel for distinguished services at Chippewa, July 5, 1814, and at Niagara Falls, where he was wounded. He was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the fifth Infantry in February, 1818, and became Brevet Brigadier General in July, 1824, and Colonel of the third Infantry December 16, 1825. He established various military posts on the frontier, one of which, the flourishing city of Leavenworth, Kansas, perpetuates his name. He died at Cross Timbers, Texas, July 21, 1834.

It will not be inappropriate to remark here that the first white women to visit Minnesota were the wives of army officers. The first of these came in September, 1819, with Col. Leavenworth. On Saturday, "the 28th of September," as related in Major Forsyth's narrative, that gentleman, " accompanied by Col. Leavenworth, Major Vose, Dr. Purcell, Lieutenant Clark and Mrs. Gooding (the wife of Captain Gooding of the Fifth regiment,) set out to visit St. Anthony's Falls." Consequently there is no reason to doubt that Mrs. Gooding was the first white woman who ever saw that rushing, roaring cataract. Mrs. Clark, the wife of the commissary of the post, came in 1820, bringing an infant that was born at Fort Winnebago, Wisconsin. Besides these there were others, for Mrs. Ellet, in a sketch of Mrs. Clark, says: " Huts had also to be built, though in the rudest manner, to serve as a shelter during the winter, from the rigors of a severe climate. After living with her family in the boat for a month, it was a highly appreciated luxury for Mrs. Clark to find herself at home in a log hut, plastered with clay and chinked for her reception. It was December before they got into winter quarters, and the fierce winds of that exposed region, with terrific storms now and then, were enough to make tbem keep within doors as much as possible. Once in a violent tempest the roof of their dwelling was raised by the wind, and partially slid off; there was no protection for the inmates, but the baby in the cradle was pushed under the bed for safety. Notwithstanding these discomforts and perils, the inconveniences they had to encounter, and their isolated situation, the little party of emigrants were not without their social enjoyments ; they were nearly all young married persons, cheerful and fond of gayety, and had their dancing assemblages once a fortnight."

Mrs. Snelling accompanied her husband when he came to relieve Col. Leavenworth, and a few days after their arrival at Mendota, a daughter was born unto them. After a brief existence of thirteen months the little one passed beyond the shadows, and was buried in the graveyard of the fort. "It was the first interment," says Mr. Neill, k' and the stone which marks its remains can still be seen."

Closely associated with the early days of Fort Snelling is the history of a small Swiss colony of farmers that settled in the vicinity. " Before the eastern wave of emigration had ascended above Prairie du Chien," says Mr. Neill, " the Swiss had opened farms on or near St. Paul, and should be recognized as the first actual settlers in the country."

These early first farmers were industrious and thrifty, and rapidly accumulated stock and other evidences of prosperity. Their settlements were made in 1836, before the Indian title to the land on the east side of the river, between Minneapolis and St. Paul, was extinguished. " By the treaty of September, 1837, made by the Dakotahs with the United States, which was ratified by the Senate, on the fifteenth of June, 1838, the Indian title to the tract in question ceased. In March, 1838, the commander at Fort Snelling selected this land as a part of a military reservation ; consequently it was withheld from sale. Those who had made claims upon it were much dissatisfied, and evinced a disposition to resist, and orders were issued from the War Department to the United States Marshal of Wisconsin, to remove the intruders. The greater portion of the settlers were Swiss, and after all their migrations from Switzerland, via Hudson Bay Company's possessions, to the present desirable location, they were loath to depart. The troops were summarily called out from the fort on the tenth of May, 1840, and the settlers, with undue haste, removed, and on the next day the troops destroyed their cabins to prevent reoccupation."

Mr. Stevens, in an address on the early history of Hennepin county, says : " This colony consisted of Louis Massy, Mr. Perry, Pierrie Garvas and others. * * * Some had their houses burnt. To the latter class Mr. Garvas belonged. Mr. Perry was the Abraham of Hennepin county. He resided in front of the slaughterhouse, near the landing. He pitched his tent, after being driven off his first home, on the bank of the brook between the Cave and St. Paul. Here he attended to his numerous flocks, and cultivated a field, and, I think, died below St. Paul near where the large hotel was burnt, a year or two since. He was a Swiss by birth. At one time he owned more cattle than all the rest of the inhabitants of what is now Minnesota, if we except Mr. Renville."

After being removed from their homes, the Swiss colonists scattered to different parts of the country. Some of them remained in Minnesota, some went to Wisconsin, and a few, we believe, found their way to Vevay, Indiana, a town that was founded by their countrymen.

The permanent occupancy of Minnesota by American civilization commenced when Col. Leavenworth arrived at Mendota with a detachment of the Fifth Regiment U. S. Infantry on the 17th of Se'ptember, 1819. More than a quarter of a century passed after that date, however, before the land began to be occupied for purposes of agriculture. In all these years the country remained an unbroken and undisturbed wild, inhabited only by native red men, the animals natural to the climate, herbs and grasses, and a few Indian traders scattered here and there through the territory. Steamboats and steamboating were unknown on the Upper Mississippi previous to 1823, and up to May 26, 1826, only fifteen steamboats had ascended the " Father of Waters" as far as Fort Snelling. Even as late as 1849, when the Territory of Minnesota was organized, the settlements were " few and far between." West of the Mississippi River, and north from the Iowa State line to the British possessions, the country was still owned and occupied by the Indians.

At Wabasha there was a trading post in charge of Alexis Bailly, where was also the home of the old voyageur, A. Rogue. F. S. Richards kept a store house at the foot of Lake Pepin, probably at or near the site of the fort built by Perrot. An eccentric character, named Wells, whose wife was a hois hrule, and the daughter of the old-time trader Duncan Graham, lived on the west side of the lake. Wells lived in a stone house, probably the first of the kind erected in any part of the territory. At Red Wing there was a cluster of bark wigwams and a

Presbyterian Mission House. The next nucleus of settlement was at Kaposia, also an Indian village, and the residence of Rev. T. S.Williamson, M. D., a Presbyterian missionary.

On the east side of the Mississippi River, settlements commenced at Point Douglas, at the mouth of the St. Croix River. There were also a few settlers and farmers at Red Rock, the site of a former Methodist station. St. Paul was just emerging from a semi-barbarous condition - Indian whiskey shops and birch-roofed cabins of half-breed voyageurs. A few frame tenements had been erected ; and under the management of H. M. Rice, who had secured an interest in the townsite, some warehouses were being constructed, and the foundations of the American House were laid. There was, perhaps, a population of two hundred and fifty or three hundred people, for the rumor had become current that the new town might be named in the act creating the territory as the capital thereof.

There was also a settlement at and around Stillwater, as already mentioned. Joseph R. Brown had secured the organization of St. Croix county when a member of the Wisconsin Territorial Assembly, and his town of Dakota had been named as the county seat. Then came the McKusicks and their associates, who laid the foundations of the present city of Stillwater. There was also a settlement at Mendota, and several beginnings of settlements in other parts of the territory - but they were scattering. When the census of the territory was taken in the summer of 1849, as required by the organic act, the total population was 4,940, including the soldiers and women and children in the forts.

Religious Movements

The following account of early religious movements is based upon an article prepared by Rev. C. Hobart, for the Minnesota Historical Society, in 1851.

The first effort to establish Christianity in this territory was probably made by the Roman Catholic Church. And although names and dates cannot be furnished by me, yet it is inferable, from the known zeal of her priesthood, and the fact that almost the entire trade with the Indians for more than fifty years, was in the hands of the French voyageurs, who were mostly French Catholics. Chapels were built at Lake Pepin, St. Paul and Mendota. They were rude, primitive structures, built mostly of logs, and appear to have been erected many years ago. Rev. Mr. Ravoux officiated at St. Paul and Mendota, and a missionary was sent to Pembina in 1850.

The first in the territory, so far as I can learn, was established at Sandy Lake, in 1832 - Edmund F. Ely, teacher and catechist. The second, at Leech Lake, in 1833 - William T. Boutwell, missionary and teacher. In 1834 a mission was commenced at Fond du Lac, at the head of Lake Superior - E. F. Ely, teacher and catechist. In 1835 another mission was established at Pokegoma (Snake River.) The above were intimately connected with missions at LaPointe and Yellow Lake, now within the bounds of Wisconsin. All the missions within the territory alluded to above were continued with some variations, until within a few years, when they were given up.

In 1835 Dr. Williamson visited this country for the purpose of establishing missions among the Sioux. Sometime after thai, in connection with Messrs. G. H. and S. W. Pond, Stevens, Riggs and Huggins, and perhaps others, missions were established at Lac qui Parle, Traverse des Sioux, and at several other places along the St. Peters. Also at Kaposia and Red Wing on the Mississippi. These missions were still continued when this article was prepared by Mr. Hobart, the missionaries having labored amid difficulties and privations with an amount of zeal worthy of all praise.

Methodist Missions

Missions were established by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1837, by Rev. Alfred Brunson and Rev. David King, at Kaposia and St. Peters among the Sioux. In 1838 these missions were continued ;

Johnson, (the two last named converted Chippewas,) were sent to Crow Wing and Sandy Lake as missionaries to the Chippewas. The Crow Wing mission, after a few years, was given up, and a mission established at Fond du Lac.

The mission at Kaposia was changed to Red Rock, and continued until 1842, when it was discontinued. In 1851 there were but two missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church to the Indians within the bounds of the territory, viz., at Sandy Lake and Mille Lac, - the last named was established in 1850. In addition to the missionaries already named, Rev. Messrs. B. F. Kavenaugh, H. Kavenaugh, J. W. Pope, G.

Oberlin Missions

In 1843 Rev. F. Ayer and wife, assisted by Messrs. Spencer, Wright, Barnard and Dr. Lewis, were sent out by a Presbyterian Missionary Society, located at Oberlin, Ohio. After that time missions were established by them among the Chippewas, at Red Lake, Cass Lake, and Little Lake Winnepeg. These missions were still in operation in 1851.

This mission was established at Mount Trempeleau, by Rev. Messrs. Denton and Gavan, in 1837, and removed to Red Wing village at the head of Lake Pepin, in 1838, where it was continued until Mr. Denton's health failed in 1846, when it was given up to the American Board. From 1846 to 1848 it was unoccupied, but in the year last named Revs. John Aiton and Joseph W. Hancock were appointed to the work. Mr. Aiton commenced his labors soon after his appointment. Mr. Hancock arrived June 13, 1849. The two men did not co-operate many months until they separated - Mr. Aiton going elsewhere. Mr. Hancock remained and continued the mission work until the Indians were removed in 1853.

Missions To The Inhabitants Of Minnesota Territory

The first missionary sent to this country to preach to the white settlers was the Rev. Mr. Hurlbrest, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He came in the fall of 1844, and left in the spring of 1846. In September, 1846, Rev. J. W. Putnam, of the same church, was appointed to the St. Croix mission, which included all the settlements on the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers, above Point Douglas. He was continued two years, and was succeeded in 1848 by Rev. Benjamin Close.

In 1849, three missionaries were sent to the territory, and stationed as follows: Stillwater, James Harrington; St. Anthony Falls, Enos Stevens ; St. Paul, C. Hobart. Mr. Hobart was the presiding elder of the Minnesota district at that time.

L. Dickens, to St. Paul ; Rev. C. A. Newcombe, to St. Anthony Falls. Point Douglas was supplied with Rev. L. Nobles. J. Harrington died in August, which caused the removal of L. Nobles to Stillwater, and the appointment of Rev. J. W. Dow to Point Douglas. C. Hobart was appointed presiding elder of Minnesota district, including all of Minnesota Territory and that part of Wisconsin north of the Wisconsin River.

Baptist Missions

In February, 1849, Rev. M. Parsons was appointed by the American Home Mission Society as missionary to St. Paul, and arrived May 17th. In the fall of the same year, Rev. Mr. Brown was sent out by the same society, and stationed at Stillwater. In 1850, Mr. Parsons was continued at St. Paul ; Mr. Brown appointed to St. Anthony Falls ; and Rev. Mr. Webber sent to Stillwater.

Presbyterian And Congregational Missions

In May, 1849, Rev. E. D. Neill visited St. Paul and preached once, when he returned to Illinois and then to Philadelphia; was appointed missionary to this place by the Home Missionary Society, and returned with his family in July. Rev. Mr. Whitney came to Stillwater in the fall of the same year. In 1850, Mr. Neill was continued at St. Paul, and Mr. Whitney at Stillwater. During the fall, Rev. Mr. Secombe arrived at St. Anthony Falls, and the Rev. Mr. Hall was sent to Point Douglas and Cottage Grove. Messrs. Secombe and Hall were Congregationalists.

Episcopal Mission

In the summer of 1850, Rev. Messrs. Breck, Wilcoxson and Merrick located themselves at St. Paul as missionaries of the above-named church to the territory. They visited every neighborhood on foot, once in three weeks, from Fort Ripley to Point Douglas, and thence to the falls of St. Croix, besides maintaining regular service at St. Paul.

Organization Op Churches

The first Protestant church organized in the territory was organized at Fort Snelling, in 1833 or 1834, according to the statements of Dr. Williamson, Hon. H. H. Sibley and Col. Loomis. This church was dissolved soon after. The first permanent organization was of the Methodist church, in 1844, by Rev. Mr. Hurbut.

Morality Of The Early Settlers

[From Hon. H. H. Sibley's Beminiscences of the Early Days of Minnesota] It has been made a subject of frequent remark, that the settlement of Minnesota has been singularly free from the disorders and deeds of violence which have almost invariably accompanied the same process in other Western Territories and States. Crimes of magnitude, especially such as involved the destruction of human life, have been so rarely committed, that the whole record of Minnesota in that respect, may be advantageously compared with that of any State in the Union. I attribute this, mainly, to the fact that Minnesota, California and Oregon were settled simultaneously, and that the gold fields of the Pacific attracted thither a host of reckless adventurers, who would otherwise have found a home among us. Thus while that class emigrated to the other side of the stony mountains, in pursuit of the precious metals, the men who had it in view to gain a subsistence by honest labor, sought the fertile prairies of Minnesota with their families. It is hardly necessary to mention that while our population is many thousands less than it would have been, but for the attractions referred to in another quarter, the State has been vastly benefitted by remaining free from the presence of a large number of that description of persons who are popularly said to " live by their wits." The infusion of such an element into our population would have resulted in a rehearsal on an extensive scale of those scenes of sanguinary violence which have disgraced the early history of so many of the border States.

- the men and women who go ahead to spy out the land and mark the way for the possession and occupancy of the savage wilds of our frontier domain by the sons and daughters of civilization. As a rule, the Pioneers are bold, fearless, industrious, enterprising, self-reliant and determined. They may not always be educated men and women, as the phrase goes, - they may not be learned in the lore of the books, - but they possess an intuitive knowledge, a native sense, that renders them the equals, sometimes the superiors, of those of their fellows who were educated within and graduated from seminaries and colleges. And yet it has happened that men of culture, from some cause or other, chose to abandon the busy haunts and thronged marts of civilization, to seek homes in the midst of frontier wilds. But, whether learned or not, there is a certain grandeur and nobleness of character about frontiersmen - the advance guards of a higher order of civilization - that commands respect, admiration and honor. Building their homes in the midst of Indians, where they are untrammeled and unfettered by the conventionalities of refined society, the maturity of their manhood and womanhood is reached under nature's teachings. Beyond the reach and the influence of the deceptions, the hypocrisies and the false assumptions incident to the corrupted condition of modern civilization, their characters remain untainted by tricks of dishonesty, and they develop into true nobleness of thought, of purpose and of action.

" As a class," writes one of Minnesota's most respected and honored citizens, " the Pioneers of Minnesota were far superior in morality, education and intelligence to the pioneers of most of the other territories, and they left a favorable impress upon the character of the State. ' They were by no means free from the vices and frailties of poor humanity ; but, on the other hand, they were, for the most part, distinguished for charity to the poor and friendless, hospitable even to a fault, and enthusiastically devoted to the interests and the prosperity of our beautiful Minnesota. Although, generally speaking, men of limited education, there were exceptions to this rule, individuals being found among them of respectable literary attainments. And they were, for the most part, religiously inclined. Men who, like Cooper's " Leatherstocking," are brought face to face with Nature in her deepest solitudes, are led naturally to the worship of that Great Being whose hand alone could have created the vast expanse of wood and prairie, mountain, lake and river which spread themselves daily, in endless extent and variety, before their eyes. They were not particularly given to respect law, especially when it favored speculators at the expense of the settler. At the land sales at the Falls of St. Croix, in 1848, when the site of the present, city of St. Paul, and the tracts adjacent thereto on the east side of the Mississippi, were exposed to public sale, Gen. H. H. Sibley was selected by the actual settlers to bid off portions of the land for them, and when the hour for business had arrived, his seat was invariably surrounded by men with huge bludgeons. What was meant by the proceeding Gen. Sibley could only surmise, but he says he would not have envied the fate of the individual who would have ventured to bid against him."

An opinion prevails among some people in the old settled parts of the country, that pioneers are rude and boorish, and that because of their isolation and surroundings, they become ignorant " Know-nothings," and easy victims to the wiles and intrigues of those speculatively inclined. The belief is not founded in fact, nor will it stand the test of trial, unless to be defeated. It is true that isolation and long absences from the circles of society may render their movements a little awkward in fashionable drawing-rooms ; they may not be as polished in their manners as those who never left the shadows of colleges and tailor shops, but there is a genuine hospitality and courtliness about them that always commands respect. The charge of ignorance is equally groundless, as is shown in the fact that some of the ablest, as well as the most honest representatives in the national legislature, graduated from pioneer huts. No better illustration of this position can be offered, and in fact no better argument is needed, than in the case of H. H. Sibley, the first delegate to Congress from the Minnesota Territory. Mr. Sibley came to the country in November, 1834, long before there was any other people than a few French traders, half-breed voyageurs and Indians to be seen. After a continued residence of fourteen years in the midst of such surroundings, he was sent to Washington to represent the interests of the embryo territory among the learned men of the nation. No Senator, no Representative, no matter from what constituency, ever made a prouder record or commanded more solid respect from the assembled Solons of the American Republic than Mr. Sibley. His speech before the Committee on Elections of the House of Representatives, December 22, 1848, which is published elsewhere, was one of the most forcible and convincing arguments ever presented to that body. The subject of the speech - the cause of it, as the reader will see, was a singular one, almost if not entirely without precedent; but it was so ably and carefully presented, that the right of his admission to a seat in the House as a delegate from the residum of Wisconsin Territory, (i. <?., that part of the old Territory of Wisconsin which had been struck off and left without even a provisional government when the boundary lines of the State of Wisconsin were established,) was recognized. That victory was the beginning of Minnesota's glory - the first step towards her proud grandeur as a sovereign and independent State of the American Union.

Mr. Sibley has related that when his credentials as delegate were presented by Hon. James Wilson, of New Hampshire, to the House of Representatives, some curiosity was manifested by the members to see what kind of a person had been selected to represent the distant and wild territory claiming representation in Congress. He was told by a New England member, with whom he subsequently became quite intimate, that there was some disappointment felt when he made his appearance, for it was expected that the delegate from this remote region would make his debut, if not in full Indian costume, at least with some peculiarities of dress and manners characteristic of the rude and semi-civilized people who had sent him to the capitol. They were disappointed, for instead of a rude, unlettered backwoodsman, they found Mr. Sibley would compare favorably with the members of that body in every particular.

The imputation that a pioneer people fall easy victims to adventurers and speculators is an idle one. As a class, they are keen, shrewd men, of quick perceptions and ready ken, and those who imagine them to be fools or dolts in maintaining their rights and " holding their own" in making bargains - buying and selling - are sadly at fault.

A good many years ago, Ewing, a fur merchant, who operated throughout all this region of country, and whose home was at Fort Wayne, Indiana, became interested in the son of one of the early settlers of Whitley county in that State, named Miner, and commissioned him to buy furs in his immediate neighborhood. Young Miner was very apt, and took readily to the business. Ewing was so well pleased with his protege that as he grew in years and experience he gave him enlarged territory. Prosperity attended all his transactions and at last he was taken into the full confidence of his employer, and entrusted with the entire management of certain branches of the business. While thus employed Miner grew to manhood. He had been careful of his earnings, and prudently invested his savings in property in the " City of Spires," and at last married, and came to be acknowledged as one of the most prosperous and promising business men of the community. When the St. Paul fever of speculation was at its height, Miner fell a victim to it, and expressed a determination to con- vert his property into money, and remove to the capital of the new territory, assigning as a reason, that as the countiy was new and settled with a people who always kept in advance of civilization, they knew nothing about the " tricks of trade,-' and that they had no money upon which to speculate if they did. To use his own words, "They were ignorant, foolish pioneers, and easily hoodwinked. With what money I can carry with me, I can go up there and in a very short time double it by trading with them. A little money will do a great deal with that class of men, the most of whom never had a hundred dollars at one time in their lives." His friends sought to dissuade him from his purpose, but in vain. He converted his property into money, and started for St. Paul with about twenty thousands dollars. In a little more than a year from the time he left, his old friends were surprised to see Miner back in the streets of Fort Wayne, looking somewhat seedy in dress and careworn in features. "Hello, Miner; back again, eh? How's Saint Paul?" was the greetings that came from his old associates. "Sh," was the reply that came from his lips, with upraised arm and extended finger; "come and take a drink and say no more about St. Paul. You were right when you told me I would find as sharp traders up there as could be found anywhere in the country, but 1 didn't believe you. I expected to find them a lot of d - d fools who didn't know anything, but I hadn't been there six months until 1 discovered that I was the only d - d fool among them. In less than nine months they had me completely surrounded, and in a year they euchered me out of every cent I had in the world. I concluded the best thing I could do was to come back home and make a new start among the people I knew. They were pretty good fellows, though, after all, for they gave me money enough to pay my way back, and here I am ; dead broke.' No more trading among Minnesota pioneers for me."

And such was the fact. The pioneers were too shrewed, and drove closer bargains than Miner expected, and within a year after his arrival at St. Paul, his savings of years had been gathered into other hands, and he returned home a much wiser man in regard to the character and shrewdness of pioneer settlers.

county, Maryland, January 5, 1805. Soon after his birth, his father, who was a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church, removed to Pennsylvania, and settled on a farm near Lancaster. At the age of fourteen years Joseph was apprenticed to a printer in Lancaster, but his master proved to be a harsh and somewhat cruel man, and after a few months service young Brown ran away and joined the army, and came to what is now Minnesota, as a drummer boy with the detachment of troops that commenced the erection of Fort Snelling in 1819.

Some authorities say he was discharged from military service in 1825; others in 1828. But whatever the date may have been, he made Minnesota his permanent home until his death, which occurred in New York, November 9th, 1870.