Columbia County, Wisconsin - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 1 of those read), 1880 (part 1 of 12)

Histoey Of Wisconsin

The first explorers of the valleys of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi and its tributaries. seem not to have noticed, to any considerable extent, the existence within these vast areas of monuments of an extinct race. Gradually, however, as the tide of emigration broke through the barriers of the Alleghanies and spread in a widely extended flow over what are now the States of the Northwest, these prehistoric vestiges attracted more and more the attention of the curious and the learned, until, at the present time, almost every person is presumed to have some general knowledge, not only of their existence, but of some of their striking peculiarities. Unfortunately, these signs of a long since departed people are fast disappearing by the never ceasing operations of the elements, and the constant encroachments of civilization. The earliest notices of the animal and vegetable kingdom of this region are to be found in its rocks ; but Wisconsin's earliest records of men can only be traced in here and there a crumbling earth-work, in the fragment of a skeleton, or in a few stone and copper implements - dim and shadowy relics of their handicraft.

The ancient dwellers in these valleys, whose history is lost in the lapse of ages, are designated, usually, as the Mound-Builders; not that building mounds was probably their distinctive employment, but that such artificial elevations of the earth are, to a great extent, the only evidences remaining of their actual occupation of the country. As to the origin of these people, all knowledge must, possibly, continue to rest upon conjecture alone. Nor were the habitations of this race confined to the territory o-f which Wisconsin now forms a part, At one time, they must have been located in many ulterior regions. The earth- works, tumuli, or "mounds," as they are generally designated, are usually symmetrically raised and often inclosed in mathematical figures, such as the square, the octagon, and the circle, with long lines of circumvallation. Besides these earth-works, there are pits dug in the solid rock ; rubbish heaps formed in the prosecution of mining operations ; and a variety of implements and utensils, wrought in copper or stone, or moulded in clay. Whence came the inhabitants who left these evidences to succeeding generations ? In other words, who were the Mound-Buflders ? Did they m'igrate from the Old World, or is their origin to be sought for elsewhere.' And as to their manners and customs and civilization - what of these things ? Was the race finally swept from the New World to give place to Red men, or was it the one from which the latter descended .' These momentous questions are left for the ethnologist, the archseologist, and the antiquarian of the future to answer - if they can.

Inclosures and mounds of the prehistoric people, it is generally believed, constituted but parts of one system ; the former being, in the main, intended for purposes of defense or religion ; the latter, for sacrifice, for temple sites, for burial places, or for observatories. In selecting sites for many of these earth-works, the Mound-Builders appear to have been influenced by motives which prompt civilized men to choose localities for their great marts; hence, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, Milwaukee and other cities of the West are founded on ruins of pre-existing structures. River terraces and river bottoms seem to have been the favorite places for these earth-works. In such localities, the natural advantages of the country could be made available with much less trouble than in portions of the country lying at a distance from water-courses. In Wisconsin, therefore, as in other parts, the same general idea of selecting points contiguous to the principal natural thoroughfares is found to have prevailed with the Mound-Builders ; for their works are seen in the basin of the Fox river of the Illinois, in that of Rock river and its branches, in the valley of Fox river of Green bay, in that of the Wisconsin, as well as near the waters of the Mississippi.

While a few circumvallations and immense mounds, such as are common to certain other portions of the United States, are discoverable in Wisconsin, yet by far the largest number of earthworks have one peculiarity not observable, except m a few instances, outside the State. This characteristic is a very striking one The fact is revealed that they are imitative in formresembling beasts, reptiles, birds, fish, man. All these, for convenience, are usually classed under the general name of "animal mounds," although some are in the similitude of trees, some of war clubs, others of tobacco pipes. Generally, these figures are in groups, though sometimes they are seen alone. For what purpose these earth-works were heaped up - they rise above the surface two, four, and sometimes six feet - or what particular uses they were intended to subserve, is unknown It is, however, safe to affirm that they had some significance. A number resemble the bear- a few, the buffalo; others, the raccoon. Lizards, turtles, and even tadpoles, are outlined in the forms of some. The war eagle, and the war club has each its representative. All this of course, could not have been a mere happening-the work of chance. The sizes of these mounds are as various as their forms. One near CassviUe, in Grant county, very complete in its representation of an animal, supposed to be of the elephant species, was found, upon measurement to have a total length of one hundred and thirty-five feet. Another in Sauk county, quite perfect in its resemblance to the form of a man, was of equal length-a veritable colossus; prone, it is true, and soon to disappear, if it has not already been destroyed, by ravages of a

In portions of Wisconsin, as well as in a few places outside the State, are found earth-works of another kind, but quite as remarkable as the "animal mounds," which, from their supposed use have been styled "garden beds." They are ridges, or beds, about six inches m height and four feet in width, ranged, with much apparent method, in parallel rows, sometimes rectangular in shape, sometimes of various but regular and symmetrical curves, and occupying fields of from

The Mound-Builders have left many relics, besides their earthworks, to attest their presence in Wisconsin in ages past. Scattered widely are found stone and copper axes, spear-heads, and arrow-heads, also various other implements - evidently their handiwork. As these articles are frequently discovered many feet beneath the surface, it argues a high antiquity for the artificers. Whether they had the skill to mould their copper implements is doubtful. Such as plainly show the work of hammering, indicate an art beyond that possessed by the Red men who peopled America upon its first discovery by Europeans. In a few instances, fragments of human skulls have been found so well preserved as to enable a comparison to be drawn bet>^en the crania of this ancient race and those of modern ones ; the results, however, of these comparisons throw tittle, if any, light upon " the dark backward and abysm " of mound-building times.

The evidences of an extinct people of superior intelligence is very strikingly exhibited in the ancient copper mines of the Lake Superior region. Here are to be found excavations in the solid rock; heaps of rubble and dirt; copper utensils fashioned into knives, chisels, and spear and arrow-heads; stone hammers; wooden bowls and shovels; props and levers for raising and supporting the mass copper; and ladders for ascending and descending the pits. These mines were probably worked by people not only inhabiting what is now the State of Wisconsin, but territory farther to the southward. The copper was here obtained, it is believed, which has been found in many places, even as far away as the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico, wrought into various implements and utensils. But there are no traces in Wisconsin of a " copper age " succeeding a " stone age," discernadle in any prehistoric relics. They all refer alike to one age - the indefinite past ; to one people - the Mound-Builders.

When, as early, it is believed, as 1634, civilized man first set foot upon the territory now included within the boundaries of Wisconsin, he discovered, to his surprise, that upon this wide area met and mingled clans of two distinct and wide-spread families - the Algonquins and Sioux. The tribes of the former, moving westward, checked the advance of the latter in their excursions eastward. As yet there had been no representatives of the Huron-Iroquois seen west of Lake Michigan - the members of this great family, at that date dwelling in safety in the extensive regions northward and southward of the Erie and Ontario lakes. Already had the French secured a foot-hold in the extensive valley of the St. Lawrence ; and, naturally enough, the chain of the Great Lakes led their explorers to the mouth of Green bay, and up that watercourse and its principal tributary. Fox river, to the Wisconsin, an affluent of the Mississippi. On the right, in ascending this bay, was seen, for the first time, a nation of Indians, lighter in complexion than neighboring tribes, and remarkably well formed, now well known as the Menomonees.

This nation is of Algonquin stock, but their dialect differed so much from the surrounding tribes of the same family, it having strange guttural sounds and accents, as well as peculiar inflections of verbs and other parts of speech, that, for a long time, they were supposed to have a distinct language. Their traditions point to an emigration from the East at some remote period. When first visited by the French missionaries, these Indians subsisted largely upon wild rice, from which they took their name. The harvest time of this grain was in the month of September. It grew spontaneously in little streams with slimy bottoms, and in marshy places. The harvesters went in their canoes across these watery fields, shaking the ears right and left as they advanced, the grain falling easily, if ripe, into the bark receptacle beneath. To clear it from chaff and strip it of a pellicle inclosing it, they put it to dry on a wooden lattice above a small fire, which was kept up for several days. When the rice was well dried, it was placed in a skin of the form of a bag, which was then forced into a hole, made on purpose, in the ground. They then tread it out so long and so well, that the grain being freed from the chaff, was easily winnowed. After this, it was pounded to meal, or left unpounded, and boiled in water seasoned with grease. It thus became a very palatable diet. It must not be inferred that this was the only food of the Menomonees; they were adepts in fishing, and hunted with skill the game which abounded" in the forests.

grounds upon, or adjacent to, the Menomonee river. Finally, after the lapse of a century and a quarter, down to 1760, when the French yielded to the English all claims to the country, the territory of the Menomonees had shifted somewhat to the westward and southward, and their principal village was found at the head of Green bay, while a smaller one was still in existence at the mouth of their favorite stream. So slight, however, had been this change, that the country of no other of the surrounding tribes had been encroached upon by the movement.

In 1634, the Menomonees probably took part in a treaty with a representative of the French, who had thus early ventured so far into the wilds of the lake regions. More than a score of years elapsed before the tribe was agam visited by white men, - that is to say, there are no authentic accounts of earlier visitations. In 1660, Father Rene Menard had penetrated the Lake Superior country as far, at least, as Kewenaw, in what is now the northern part of Michigan, whence some of his French companions probably passed down the Menomonee river to the waters of Green bay the following year ; but no record of the Indians, through whose territory fhey passed, was made by these voyagers. Ten years more - 1670 - brought to the Menomonees (who doubtless had already been visited by French fur-traders) Father Claudius Allouez, to win them to Christianity. He had previously founded a mission upon the bay of Chegoimegon, now Chaquamegon, or Ashland bay, an arm of Lake Superior, within the present State of Wisconsin, in charge of which, at that date, was Father James Marquette. Proceeding from the " Sault" on the third of November, Allouez, early in December, 1669, reached the mouth of Green bay, where, on the third, in an Indian village of Sacs, Pottawattamies, Foxes and Winnebagoes, containing about six hundred souls, he celebrated the holy mass for the first time upon this new field of his labors, - eight Frenchmen, traders with the Indians, whom the missionary found there upon his arrival, taking part in the devotions. His first Christian work with the Menomonees was performed in May of the next year. Allouez found this tribe a feeble one, almost exterminated by war. He spent but little time with them, embarking, on the twentieth of that month, after a visit to some Pottawattamies and Winnebagoes, " with a Frenchman and a savage to go to Sainte Mary of the Sault." His place was filled by Father Louis Andr(5, who, not long after, erected a cabin upon the Menomonee river, which, with one at a village where his predecessor had already raised the standard of the cross, was soon burned by the savages; but the missionary, living almost constantly in his canoe, continued for some time to labor with the Menomonees and surrounding tribes. The efforts of Andr6 were rewarded with some conversions among the former ; for Marquette, who visited them in 1673, found many good Christians among them.

The record of ninety years of French domination in Wisconsin - beginning in June, 167 1, and ending in October, 1761 - brings to light but little of interest so far as the Menomonees are concerned. Gradually they extended their intercourse with the white fur traders. Gradually and with few interruptions (one in 1728, and one in 1747 of a serious character) they were drawn under the banner of France, joining with that government in its wars with the Iroquois; in its contests, in 1712, 1729, 1730, and 1751, with the Foxes; and. subsequently, in its conflicts with the English.

The French post, at what is now Green Bay, Brown county, Wisconsin, was, along with the residue of the western forts, surrendered to the British in 1760, although actual possession of the former was not taken until the Fall of the next year. The land on which the fort stood was claimed by the Menomonees. Here, at that date, was their upper and principal village, the lower one being at the mouth of the Menomonee river. These Indians soon became reconciled to the English occupation of their territory, notwithstanding the machinations of French traders who endeavored to prejudice them against the new comers. The Menomonees, at this time, were very much reduced, having, but a short time previous, lost three hundred of their warriors

The Indian Tribes Of Wisconsin

V r'of 1763 broke out. and the post of ^-^7;^;;\Vo:rd"'' Jm elomone'es and other tribes, bay was not only not attacked by the ^^f ^'^^/l^^^Xfcroche ; thence making their way to croULakeMichiganinsafetytotl^vdlg^ f^^^^^^^^^ .^.^^.^^ ^^,, ,, for us. Even if we wanted to «??-; J°;^;7^,';;;rers shall not be disturbed. You can choose attempt. One favor we ask is, that our French bo ^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ anticipated any place you please for your fort, and ^^f ^^j^^^'^^^^.^^ent of the United States in that f.om the Menomonees, --^ ^^ ^^^^.tTruch o the'^^^^^ now springing up between the iSlrtTr ir niror^^tfe^S:"^^ for eLch family a copper kettle, knives, axes, guns and ammunition, was withheld by them ^,, ^on of the Menomonee territory, that

It was found by the Americans, ^VO^ '^I'l' ° ? ^ ^^^atmen who had settled at t.ie some of the women of that tribe were mam d o -j-s a"^ ^, ,,^,, ,,,,e Canadians of head of the bay, there being no whi e ^ ^^^^^^ ,,n treated, which was expressed by French extraction; hence the -^^ >' ' ^^^J^,, ,,,,,_ At this period there was a considerthe Menomonees upon the arrival of the Anienca ^^ ^^^^^^ frequently wmabie trade carried on with ^^^"^"f'.urarUey with this ribe was " made and concluded" on tered on the Mississippi. ^^^ «" ^ VnT^ iL William Clark, Ninian Edwards, and the thirtieth day of March, 1817, J "^^^^^^ behalf of the United States of America, of the Auguste Chouteau, commissioners on the Par ^nd b ^, ^,^ part. By the terms of this compact all injuries -Jj;;^ ^^ "^^^.^^^.i ,, tbe United States ; all prisoners to be lands, heretofore ceded to other g^"^^"' ' ,f the United States, " and of no other deliv;red up ; and the tribe placed -fjV'^'^ll'^lll^,,,,, ,,ere now fully and fairly, and for nation, power, or sovereign whats ever. Th Me ^^ ......distinction to the term eral Government, had become g-^^fy^'^^^^^^-^.i^r and those flowing south into Green bay and ridge between the waters f^"-"/;"^^" ^tliga'T on the south, by the Milwaukee nver, and on the Mississippi; on the east, by Lake Michiga ^ ^,^^y ^^^^^ p mouth of Green bay on the north and the M^^^^^f ^^^^ to the Chippewa country: indefinite area west. Their general claim, as late i«-S, east to Green bay and Lake Michigan; south to the Milwaukee river, and west to Black river And what IS most surprising is that the feeble tribe of 176 1 had now, in less than three quarters of a century, become a powerful nation, numbering between three and four thousand

The Menomoriee territory, as late as ,831, still preserved its large proportions. Its eastern division was bounded by the Milwaukee river, the shore of Lake Michigan, Green bay Fox river, and Winnebago lake; its western division, by the Wisconsin and Chippewa rivers on the west ; Fox river on the south ; Green bay on the east, and the high lands whence flow the streams into Lake Superior, on the north. This year, however, it was shorn of a valuable and large part by the tnbe ceding to the United States all the eastern division, estimated at two and one half million acres. The following year, the Menomonees aided the General Government in the Black Hawk war.

That the Menomonees might, as much as possible, be weaned from their wandering habits ^eir permanent home was designated to be a large tract lying north of Fox river and east of

. T'' Ti'"" """'' ''^' ^°' '^"'''' '^""''»g until such time as the General Government should desire to purchase it. In .836, another portion, amounting to four m. hon acres, lying between Green bay on the east and Wolf river on the west, was disposed of to the United States, besides a strip three miles in width from near the portage north on each side of the Wisconsin river and forty-eight miles long -still leaving them in peace! ablejossession of a country about one hundred and twenty miles long, and about eighty

Finally, in 1848, the Menomonees sold all their lands in Wisconsin to the General Govern ment, preparatory to their movement to a reservation beyond the Mississippi cf six hundred housand acres; but the latter tract was afterward re-ceded to the United States; for, no'twithstanding there were treaty stipulations for the removal of the tribe to that tract, there were obstacles in the way of their speedy migration, resulting, finally, in their being permitted to remain m Wisconsin. Lands, to the amount of twelve townships, were granted them fortheir permanen" homes, on the upper Wolf nver, in what is now Shawano and Oconto counties- a portion bu a very small one, of what was once their extensive possessions. To this reservation they rem'oved m October 1852. I hus are the Menomonees, the only one of the original tribes of Wisconsin who, as a whole, have a local habitation within its limits. This tribe refused to join the Sioux in theiroutbreakini86i, and several of their warriors served as volunteers in the United States army during the late civil war.

It is now over two centuries since the civilized world began to gain knowledge of the existence, in the far West, of a tribe of Indians known as the W.NNK.BAOoES-that is, .:.« o/^AeZpointing, possibly, to their early migration from the shores of the Mexican gulf, or the Pacific' The territory now included within the limits of Wisconsin, and so much of the State of Michigan as lies north of Green bay. Lake Michigan, the Straits of Mackinaw and Lake Huron were in early times inhabited by several tribes of the Algonquin race, forming a barrier to the Dako'tas or Sioux, who had advanced eastward to the Mississippi. But the Winnebagoes, although one of the tribes belonging to the family of the latter, had passed the great river, at some unknown period, and settled upon the head waters of Green bay. Here, this "sea-tribe," as early it is believed as 1634, was visited by an agent of France and a treaty concluded with them The tribe afterward called themselves Hochungara, or Ochunkoraw, but were styled by the Sioux, Hotanke or Sturgeon. Nothing more is heard of the Ouenibigoutz, or Winnebegouk (as the Winnebagoes were early called by the Jesuit missionaries, and the Algonquin tribes, meaning men from the fetid or salt water, translated by the French, Puants) for the next thirty-five years, although there is no doubt that the tribe had been visited meanwhile by adventurous Frenchmen, when on the second of December, 1669, some of that nation were noted at a Sac (Sauk or Saukis) village on Green bay, by Father .\liouez. - °

""''T °^ r:ed :i;eTnTefsVf t^? vV,^^;^^^^^^ wlllrLe in this'strU ; or else, if they had to "' H7o\lthim toatd le^^ this perilous navigation." The devout missionaries caused Tetol "to be Ul^ed 1:;; by the strength'of arm, and cast into the depths of the river, to appear

''"Tdirrct' trade with the French upon the St. Lawrence was not carried on by the Winnebago^ tl^ g:^ ex.. untU.e.g.^ an advance party «I ^^ .ff ^ J' J^^^^^t^Lr" t^^ to them; generally, however, the

Green bay the Winnebagoes were found to number one hundred and fifty warriors o^.ly their nearest vdlage being at the lower end of Winnebago lake. They had in all not less than' three towns The,r country, at th.s period, included not only that lake, but all the streams flowing .nto t,esi,ec,aly Fox nver; afterward extended to the Wisconsin and Rock rivers They read.iychangedthe.rcourseoftrade-asking now of the commandant at the fort forEn-WisJ traders to be sent among them. In the Indian outbreak under Pontiac in 1763, they iuined with the Menomonees and other tribes to befriend the British garrison at the hefd of the bay assisting mconducnng them to a place of safety. They continued their friendship to the En^^lish during the Revolution, by joining with them against the colonies, and were active in the Indian war of ,790-4, taking part in the attack on Fort Recovery, upon the Maumee, in the present State of Ohio, m 1793. They fought also on the side of the British in the war of 1812-1V aiding, ,n 1S14, to reduce Prairie du Chien. They were then estimated at 4.500 When in 1816 the government of the United States sent troops to take possession of the Green bay country by establishing a garrison there, some trouble was anticipated from these Indians, who at that date, had the reputation of being a bold and warlike tribe. A deputation from the nation came do^y,I Fox nver and remonstrated with the American commandant at what was thought to be an intrusion. 1 hey were desirous of knowing why a fort was to be established so near them. The reply was that, although the troops were armed for war if necessary, their purpose was peace. Their response was an old one : " If your object is peace, you have too many men If war, you have too few. However, the display of a number of cannon which had not yet been' mounted, satisfied the Winnebagoes that the Americans were masters of the situation and the deputation gave the garrison no farther trouble. On the 3d of June, 1816, at St. Louis, the tribe made a treaty of peace and friendship with the General Government; but they continued to levy tribute on all white people who passed up Fox river. English annuities also kept up a bad -feeling. At this time, a portion of the tribe was living upon the Wisconsin river, away from the rest of the nation, which was still seated upon the waters flowing into Green bay In ,820 they had five villages on Winnebago lake and fourteen on Rock river. In 18-5 the claim of the Winnebagoes was an extensive one, so far as territory was concerned, 'its southeast boundary stretched away from the source of Rock river to within forty miles of its moutli in Illinois, where they had a village. On the west it extended to the heads of the small stream, flowing into the Mississippi. To the northward, it reached Black river and the upper Wis consul, in other words, to the Chippewa territory, but did not extend across Fox river although they contended for the whole of Winnebago lake. In 1S29, a large part of their territory in southwest Wisconsin, lying between Sugar river and the Mississippi, and extending to the Wisconsin nver, was sold to the General Government ; and, three years later all the residue lying south and east of the \Visconsin and the Fox river of Green bay ; the Winnebago prophet having before t .atdate supported the Sacs in their hostility. Finally, in the brief language of the treaty between this tribe (which had l^ecome unsettled and wasteful) and the United States of the first of November, 1S37," The Winnebago Nation of Indians " ceded to the General Government all their lands east of the Mississippi." Not an acre was reserved. And the Indians agreed that, within eight months from that date, they would move west of " the areat river " This arrangement, however, was not carried out fully. In 1S42, there were only 756 at Turkey river Iowa, their new home, with as many in Wisconsin, and smaller bands e' ewhere. All had become lawless and roving. Some removed in 1848; while a party to the number of over eight hundred left the State as late as 1873. The present home of the tribe is in Nebraska, where they have a reservation north of and adjacent to the Omahas, containing over one hundred thousand - ^ However, since their first removal beyond the Mississippi, they have several times

The Iistdian Tribes Of Wisconsin

Whe 1 e territory, now constituting the northern portion of W.sconsm, became very ,eneIllkn-no the' civilized inhabitants of the eastern part of the Unxted Spates, U was So be occupied by Indians called the Ch.ppewas. Their hunfng-grounds extended south Z Lake Superior to [he heads of the Menomonee, the Wisconsin and Ch.ppewa rwers ; also r he^ eastwa d and westward. At an early day they were engaged ,n a war wUh the S.ouxa war indtld which was long continued. The Chippewas, however, persistently mamtamed thr posit on -still occupying the same region when the General Government extended Us rtdi'uon over the whole country south of the Great Lakes and west to the M.ss.ss.ppu ^ By r aties with the Chippewas at different periods, down to the y^^ ^'^ fl^^^^" ^^ ernment had recognized them as the owners of about one quarter of which i. now the entire Sta^ Tl e same policy was pursued toward this tribe as with neighboring ones, in the purchase o their lands by the United States. Gradually they parted with their extensive possessions, until ^n 84 the last'acre within what is now Wisconsin was disposed of. It was the intention o the Genera Government to remove the several bands of the Chippewas who had thus ceded their knds to a tract reserved for them beyond the Mississippi; but this determination was afterward Chan, d so as o" now t^^ remain upon certain reservations within the limits of their oldtehuntTng grounds. These reservations they continue to occupy. They are located m Bay Zd \shland Chippewa and Lincoln counties. The clans are known, respectively, as the Red C ff band it Bd River band, the Lac Courte Oreille band, and the Lac de Flambeau band.

Of all the tribes inhabiting what is now Wisconsin when its territory was first visited by white men, the S.^cs (Sauks or Saukies) and Foxes (Outagamies) are, in history, the most noted. They are <;f the Algonquin family, and are first mentioned in 1665, by Father Allouez, but as separate tribes. Afterward, however, because of the identity of their language, and their assoc at ons thev were and still are considered as one nation. In December, 1 69, Allouez found upon the shores of Green bay a village of Sacs, occupied also by members of other tribes; and Tw n r67o he visited a villlge of the same Indians located upon the Fox nver of Green bay atadistance offour leagues from its mouth. Here a device of these Indians for ca ching fish a rest d the attention of the missionary. "From one side of the river to the other," he writes "they n-de a barricade, planting great stakes, two fathoms from the water, ,n such a manner tl at Ihere is, as it were, a bridge above for the fishes, who by the aid of a little bow-net, easily take sturgeons and all other kinds of fish which this pier stops, although the water does not cea e to flow between the stakes." When the Jesuit father first obtained, five years previous a knowledge of this tribe, they were represented as savage above all others, great in numbers, and wXut any permanent dwelling place. The Foxes were of two stocks : one calling hernselves Ou agamiel or Foxes, whence our English name; the other, Musquak.nk, or men of red clay the na^Tie now used by the tribe. They lived in early times with their kindred he Sacs east of DetroT and as some lay near the St. Lawrence. They were driven west, and settled at Saginaw a rre derived from the Sacs. Thence they were forced by the Iroquo.s to Green bay; but were romDelled to leave that place and settle on Fox river.

Allouez on the twenty-fourth of April, 1670, arrived at a village of the Foxes, situated on Wolf Hver, a northern tributary of the Fox. "The nation," he declares, "is -nowned for being numerous ; they have more than four hundred men bearing arms ; the number of women and child en is greater, on account of polygamy which exists among them-each man hav ng ommoX four wives, some of them six, and others as high as ten." The missionary found that , e Foxt ad retrelted to those parts to escape the persecutions of the Iroquois. Allouez 1 tabUshed among these Indians his mission of St. Mark, rejoicing in the fact that in less than la Barre, m 1684, sent warriors aga.nst the Five Nations Th ^*'',^°""'/' '^e summons of De more serious campaign ; but soo'n after bee me tsZ to The V \ /"' '" Denonville's had plundered several on their way to trade with the v n ? ""' ""^'^ '' '^93, they ciied to the French; but the reconciliation w^ f M.ss.ss.pp,. Afterward they became recondefended by only L handful of me^ as atTack^dt^he"^ -'" '^'-'' '""' °^^-^- ^'^-

The nation continued their ill will to the French Ti,» m j;,6 had been invaded and they were reduced tsueTopeTcr^B^tr J'" \'f '^"'^^^ of long contmuance. In 17 18, the Foxes nnmh.r.^ fi u ! ''^"' was not

War- comes in, notwithstanding, as a par , "^~ J^ Wisconsin is the nation known as the Deserving a place in a notice of the Ind n "bes f ^^ ^^^ ^^^^.^agoes upon Green bay They were still upon its southern shore, m ^-^JJ^^S^;- ^ - ^. At the expiration of the o'that date they occupied, at least in °-; f/ j^, ^^ ^n te- ^^ '^^ vicinity- upon the first quarter of the eighteenth century, a P^^ o" Y » ' ^^ ^^^^ Pottawattamie islands, islands at the mouth of the bay^ ^^'''^l^^^^^^^Z Already had a large portion of thrs tnbe and considered as the ancient abode °f ^^^f- ^"^'^^"^pj^ Lake Michigan, the other near Detroit, emigrated southward, one band -J^-S ^ f^^^ ; ^^^^ii^^ ,, ,,hat is now Wisconsin - was their One peculiarity of this tribe -at least of such ^ res ^ ^^ ^^^ Pottawattarmes.

Pottawattamies-many others, -l-''^ "J^^^P^^J ^'^ ',, Us territory. Of these, some are only State was first visited by white --' ^ "" "^^^nsin ; others -such as the Hurons, lU.no.s, known as having once lived in ^v^Iat ^ J^^'^^Zd Sioux, are recognized as Indians once Kickapoos, Mascouten. Miarnis, N^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^,^,,, ,, ,, ,,,, .s known of their history, that they scarcely can be claimed ^ /^^^""^ f ^^^^ 3o^e of the following years, was Commencing in 18.3, and -^^^o NY k of the remains or portions of four tribes : the migration to Wisconsin from the State of Ne ^^^.^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^ , ( who first located above Green Bay, ^ , ^;;f ^^^ ^: ^,i,ing the southwest township of the side of Winnebago lake. They now occupy a reserva j ^^^^, ^_^.^^^^ ^^^ Brothertowns some of his Indian attendants to announce hi clin IToltT 'r'T '°"-' '''^^^- to meet the expectant crowd with a pistol in each hand' Th" ^nd advanced

'Nation of the Sea.' - From tl'ese Men of tL Sea Nicol/ ^f'°" ^^ Stinkards,' but the river of Green Bay, until nigh the portage to th! W . ^'"''"^ westward, ascended Fox first structure erected by civilized man in Wisconsin. At La Pointe, in the present Ashland county, he established the mission of the Holy Ghost.

The next Catholic mission in what is now Wisconsin was that of St. Francis Xavier, founded also by Allouez. Upon the second of December, 1669, he first attended to his priestly devotions upon the waters of Green bay. This mission, for the first two years of its existence, was a migratory one. The surrounding tribes were all visited, including the Pottawattamies, Menomonees, Winnebagoes, and Sacs and Foxes. However, in i67i,one hundred and five years before the Declaration of Independence, there was erected, at what is now Depere, Brown coun^, a chapel for the mission of St. Francis Xavier. Thus early did the Jesuit Fathers, in their plain garbs and unarmed, carry the cross to many of the benighted heathen occupying the country circumscribed by Lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior, and the "great river" - the Mississippi.

French domination in Wisconsin dates from the year 1671, the very year in which it seems the indomitable LaSalle, upon his first expedition, passed the mouth of Green bay, but did not enter it. France then took formal possession of the whole of the country of the upper lakes. By this time, the commerce with the western tribes had so attached them to her interests that she determined to extend her power to the utmost limits - vague and indeterminate as they were - of Canada. An agent - Daumont de St. Lusson - was dispatched to the distant tribes, proposing a congress of Indian nations at the Falls of Ste. Mary, between Lake Huron and Lake Superior. The invitation was extended far and near. The principal chiefs of Wisconsin tribes, gathered by Nicolas Perrot in Green bay, were present at the meeting. Then and there, with due ceremony, it was announced that the great Northwest was placed under the protection of the French government. And why not.' She had discovered it - had to a certain extent explored it - had to a limited extent established commerce with it - and her missionaries had proclaimed the faith to the wondering savages. But none of her agents - none of the furtraders - none of the missionaries - had yet reached the Mississippi, the "great river," concerning which so many marvels had been heard, although it is claimed that, in 1669, it had been seen by the intrepid La Salle. But the time for its discovery, or properly re-discovery, was at hand, if, indeed, it can be called, with propriety, a re-discovery, since its existence to the westward was already known to every white man particularly interested in matters appertaining to the Northwest. Now, however, for the first time, its upper half was to be, to a certain extent, explored. For the first time, a white man was to behold its vast tribute, above the Illinois river, rolling onward toward the Mexican gulf. Who was that man .'' His name was Louis Joliet ; with him was Father James Marquette.

Born at Quebec, in 1645, educated by the Jesuits, and first resolving to be a priest, then turning fur-trader, Joliet had, finally, been sent with an associate to explore the copper mines of Lake Superior. He was a man of close and intelligent observation, and possessed considerable mathematical acquirements. At this time, 1673, he was a merchant, courageous, hardy, enterprising. He was appointed by French authorities at Quebec to " discover " the Mississippi. He passed up the lakes to Mackinaw, and found at Point St. Ignace, on the north side of the strait. Father James Marquette, who readily agreed to accompany him. Their outfit was very simple: two birch-bark canoes and a supply of smoked meat and Indian corn. They had a company of five men with them, beginning their voyage on the seventeenth of May, 1673. Passing the straits, they coasted the northern shores of Lake Michigan, moved up Green bay and Fox river to the portage. They crossed to the Wisconsin, down which they paddled their frail canoes, until, on the seventeenth of June, they entered - " discovered " - the Mississippi. So the northern, the eastern and the western boundary of what is now Wisconsin had been reached at this date ; therefore, it maybe said that its territory had been explor,.d sufficiently for the forming of a pretty correct idea of its general features as well as of its savage inhabitants. After dropping down the Mississippi many miles, Joliet and Marquette returned to Green bay, where the latter remained to recruit his e.xhausted strength, while Joliet descended to Quebec, to report his "discoveries" to his superiors.

Then followed the expedition of LaSalle to the west, from the St. Lawrence, when, in 1679, he and Father Louis Hennepin coasted along the western shore of Lake Michigan, frequently landing ; then, the return of Henri de Tonty, one of LaSalle's party down the same coast to Green bay, in 1680, from the Illinois; the return, also, the same year, of Hennepin, from up the Mississippi, whither he had made his way from the Illinois, across what is now Wisconsin, by the Wisconsin and Fox rivers to Green bay, in company with DuLhut, or DuLuth, who, on his way down the " great river " from Lake Superior, had met the friar ; and then, the voyage, in 1683, from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi river, by the same route, of LeSueur, and his subsequent establishment at La Pointe, in what is now Ashland county, Wisconsin, followed several years after by a trip up the Mississippi. The act of Daumont de St. Lusson, at the Sault Sainte Mary, in 167 1, in taking possession of the country beyond Lake Michigan, not being regarded as sufficiently definite, Nicolas Perrot, in 1689, at Green bay, again took possession of that territory, as well as of the valleys of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, and extending the dominion of New France over the country on the Upper Mississippi, and "to other places more remote." The voyage of St. Cosme, in 1699, when he and his companions frequently landed on the west coast of Lake Michigan, upon what is now territory of Wisconsin, completed the explorations in the west for the seventeenth century.

Following in the footsteps of early explorations, of self sacrificing attempts of the Jesuits to carry the cross to the wild tribes of the West, of the first visits of the lawless coureurs de bois, was the military occupation - if such it can be called - of what is now Wisconsin by the French. The ninety years of domination by France in this region were years of only nominal possession. The record of this occupation is made up of facts concerning the Indian policy of the French rulers; their contests with the Sacs and Foxes; their treaties, at various times, with different tribes ; their interest m, and protection of, the fur trade , and kindred subjects. The Indian tribes were, at most, only the allies of France. Posts - mere stockades without cannon, more for protection to fur-traders than for any other purpose - were erected upon the Mississippi at two points at least, upon what is now territory of Wisconsin. On the west side of Fox river of Green bay, "half a league from its mouth," was a French post, as early as 1721, where resided, besides the commandant and an uncouth scj^uad of soldiers, a Jesuit missionary ; and near by were collected Indians of different tribes. Of course, the omnipresent fur-trader helped to augment the sum-total of its occupants. This post was, not long after, destroyed, but another was established there. When, however, France yielded her inchoate rights in the West to Great Britain - when, in 1761, the latter took possession of the country - there was not a French post within what is now Wisconsin. The "fort" near the head of Green bay, had been vacated for some years; it was found "rotten, the stockade ready to fall, and the houses without cover;" emblematic of the decay - the fast-crumbling and perishing state - of French supremacy, at that date, in America. Wisconsin, when England's control began, was little better than a howling wilderness. There was not within the broad limits of what is now the State, a single bona fide settler, at the time the French Government yielded up its possession to the English ; that is to say, there were none according to the present acceptation of the term "settler."

The military occupation of Wisconsin by the British, after the Seven Years' War, was a brief one. La Bay - as the post at what is now the city of Fort Howard, Brown county, was called - was, on the twelfth of October, 1761, taken possession of by English troops, under Captain Belfour, of the Eightieth regiment. Two dnys after, that officer departed, leaving Lieutenant

Pre-Territorial Annals Of Wisc0Nsi2S

James Gorrell, in command, with one sergeant, one corporal and fifteen privates. There also remained at the post a French interpreter and two English traders. The name of the fortification was changed to Fort Edward Augustus. This post was abandoned by the commandant on the twenty-first of June, 1763, on account of the breaking out of Pontiac's War and the capture of the fort at Mackinaw by the savages. The cause of this war was this : The Indian tribes saw the danger which the downfall of the French interests in Canada was sure to bring to them. They banded together under Pontiac to avert their ruin. The- struggle was short but fierce - full of " scenes of tragic interest, with marvels of suffering and vicissitude, of heroism and endurance;" but t'.ie white man conquered. The moving incidents in this bloody drama were enacted to the eastward of what is now Wisconsin, coming no nearer than Mackinaw, which, as just mentioned, the savages captured; but it resulted in the evacuation of its territory by British troops, who never after took possession of it, though they continued until 1796 a nominal military rule over it, after Mackinaw was again occupied by them.

An early French Canadian trading station at the head of Green bay assumed finally the form of a permanent settlement - the first one in Wisconsin. To claim, however that any French Canadian is entitled to the honor of being the first permanent white settler is assuming for him more than the facts seem to warrant. The title of " The Father and Founder of Wisconsin " belongs to no man.

After Pontiac's War, one of the noted events in this region was the journey of Jonathan Carver, who, in 1766, passed up Fox river to the portage, and descended the Wisconsin to the Mississippi. He noticed the tumbling-down post at what is now Green Bay, Brown county. He saw a few families living in the fort, and some French settlers, who cultivated the land opposite, and appeared to live very comfortably. That was the whole e.xtent of improvements in what is now Wisconsin. The organization of the Northwest Fur Company ; the passage of an act by the British Parliament by which the whole Northwest was included in the Province of Quebec; the joining of the Indians in this region with the British, against the Americans, in the War of the Revolution; the exploration of the lead region of the Upper Mississippi by Julian Dubuque; the passage of the ordinance of 1787; the first settlement of the territory northwest of the River Ohio; and the Indian war which followed, are all incidents, during British occupation, of more or less interest for the student of Wisconsin history. He will find that, by the treaty of 1783 and of 1795, with Great Britain, all the inhabitants residing in this region were to be protected by the United States in the full and peaceable possession of their property, with the right to remain in, or to withdraw from it, with their effects, within one year. All who did not leave were to be deemed American citizens, allowed to enjoy all the privileges of citizenship, and to be under the protection of the General Government. He will also find that less than two years was the whole time of actual military occupation of what is now Wisconsin by British soldiers, and that English domination, which should have ended at the close of the Revolution, was arbitrarily continued until the Summer of 1796, when the western posts, none of which were upon territory circumscribed by Lakes Michigan and Superior and the Mississippi river, were delivered into the keeping of the United States. Thus the supremacy of Great Britain over the Northwest was, after an actual continuance of thirty-five years, at an end.

Although the General Government did not get possession of the region northwest of the Ohio, throughout its full extent, for thirteen years subsequent to its acquirement by the treaty of peace of 1783 with Great Britain, nevertheless, steps were taken, very soon, to obtain concessions from such of the colonies as had declared an ownership in any portion of it. None of the claimants, seemingly, had better rights than Virginia, who, by virtue of conquests, largely her own, of the Illinois settlements and posts, extended her jurisdiction over that country, erecting into a county so much of the region northwest of the Ohio, as had been settled by Virginians or might afterward be settled by them. But as, previous to her yielding all rights to territory beyond that river, she had not carried her arms into the region north of the Illinois or made settlements upon what is now the soil of Wisconsin, nor included any portion of it within the bounds of an organized county, it follows that her dominion was not actually extended over any part of the area included within the present boundaries of this State; nor did she then claim jurisdiction north of the Illinois river, but on the other hand expressly disclaimed it.

Virginia and all the other claimants finally ceded to the United States their rights, such as they were, beyond the Ohio, except two reservations of limited extent ; and the General Government became the undisputed owner of the "Great West," without any internal claims to possession save those of the Indians. Meanwhile, the United States took measures to extend its jurisdiction over the whole country by the passage of the famous ordinance of 1 787, which established a government over "the territory of the United States, northwest of the River Ohio." But this organic law was, of course, nugatory over that portion of the region occupied by the British, until their yielding possession in 1796, when, for the first time, Anglo-American rule commenced, though nominally, in what is now Wisconsin. By the ordinance just mentioned, "the United States, in congress assembled," declared that the territory northwest of the Ohio should, for the purposes of temporary government, be one district , subject, however, to be divided into districts, as future circumstances might, in the opinion of Congress, make it expedient. It was ordained that a governor, secretary and three judges should be appointed for the Territory; a general assembly was also provided for; and it was declared that religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education should forever be encouraged. It was also ordained that there should be neither slaTery nor involuntary servitude in the said Territory, " otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." Thus was established the first Magna Charta for the five great States since that tine formed out of " the territory northwest of the River Ohio," and the first rules and regulations for their government.

Under this act of Congress, Arthur St. Clair was appointed governor of the Northwestern Territory, as it was called, and Samuel H. Parsons, James M. Varnum, and John Armstrong, judges, - the latter not accepting the office, John Cleves Symmes was appointed in his place. Winthrop Sargeant was appointed secretary. At different periods, counties were erected to include various portions of the Territory. By the governor's proclamation of the 15th of August, 1796, one was formed to include the whole of the present area of Northern Ohio, west of Cleveland ; also, all of what is now the State of Indiana, north of a line drawn from Fort Wayne " west-northerly to the southern part of Lake Michigan ; " the whole of the present State of Michigan, except its extreme northwest corner on Lake Superior; a small corner in the northeast, part of what is now Illinois, including Chicago; and so much of the present State of Wisconsin as is watered by the streams flowing into Lake Michigan, which of course included an extensive portion, taking in many of its eastern and interior counties as now constituted. This vast county was named Wayne. So the few settlers then at the head of Green bay had their local habitations, constructively at least, in " Wayne county. Northwestern Territory." It was just at that date that Great Britain vacated the western posts, and the United States took quiet possession of them. But the western portion of what is now Wisconsin, including all its territory watered by streams flowing northward into Lake Superior, and westward and southwestward into the Mississippi, was as yet without any county organization ; as the county of St. Clair, including the Illinois country to the southwatrd, reached no farther north than the mouth of Little Mackinaw creek, where it empties into the River Illinois, in what is now the State of Illinois. The

Pre-Territoeial Annals Of Wisconsin

" law of Paris," which was in force under French domination in Canada, and which by the British Parliament in 1774, had been continued in force under English supremacy, was still " the law of the land " west of Lake Michigan, practically at least.

From and after the fourth day of July, 1800, all that part of the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio river, which lay to the westward of a line beginning upon that stream opposite to the mouth of Kentucky river and running thence to what is now Fort Recovery in Mercer county, Ohio ; thence north until it intersected the territorial line between the United States and Canada, was, for the purposes of temporary government, constituted a separate territory called Indiana. It included not only the whole of the present State of Illinois and nearly all of what is now Indiana, but more than half of the State of Michigan as now defined, also a considerable part of the present Minnesota, and the whole of what is now Wisconsin.

The seat of government was established at "Saint Vincennes on the Wabash," now the city of Vincennes, Indiana. To this extensive area was added " from and after " the admission of Ohio into the Union, all the territory west of that State, and east of the eastern boundary line of the Territory of Indiana as originally established ; so that now all " the territory of the United States, northwest of the River Ohio," was, excepting the State of Ohio, included in Indiana Territory. On the thirtieth day of June, 1805, so much of Indiana Territory as lay to the north of a lihe drawn east from the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan to Lake Erie, and east of a line drawn from the same bend through the middle of the first mentioned lake to its northern extremity, and thence due north to the northern boundary of the United States, was, for the purpose of temporary government, constituted a separate Territory called Michigan. Of course no part of the present State of Wisconsin was included therein ; but the whole remained in the Territory of Indiana until the second day of March, 1809, when all that part of the last mentioned Territory which lay west of the Wabash river, and a direct line drawn from that stream and " Post Vincennes," due north to the territorial line' between the United States and Canada, was, by an act approved on the third of February previous, constituted a separate Territory, called Illinois. Meanwhile jurisdiction had been extended by the authorities of Indiana Territory over the country lying west of Lake Michigan, to the extent, at least, of appointing a justice of the peace for each of the settlements of Green Bay and Prairie du Chien. All of what is now Wisconsin was transferred to the Territory of Illinois, upon the organization of the latter, except a small portion lying east of the meridian line drawn through Vincennes, which remained a part of Indiana Territory. This fraction included nearly the whole area between Green bay and Lake Michigan.

When, in 1816, Indiana became a State, "the territory of the United States northwest of the River Ohio," contained, besides Ohio and Indiana, the Territories of Illinois and Michigan, only ; so the narrow strip, formerly a part of Indiana Territory, lying east of a line drawn due north from Vincennes, and west of the western boundary line of Michigan Territory, belonged to neither, and was left without any organization. However, upon tlw admission of Illinois into the Union, in 1818, all "the territory of the United States, northwest of the River Ohio," lying west of Michigan Territory and north of the States of Indiana and Illinois, was attached to and made a part of Michigan Territory ; by which act the whole of the present State of Wisconsin came under the jurisdiction of the latter. During the existence of the Territory of Illinois, a kind of jurisdiction was had over the two settlements in what is now Wisconsin - rather more ideal than real, however.

In 1834, Congress greatly increased the limits of the Territory of Michigan, by adding to it, for judicial purposes, a large extent of country west of the Mississippi- - reaching south as far as the present boundary line between the present States of Iowa and Missouri ; north, to the territorial line between the United States and Canada ; and west, to the Missouri and White Earth rivers. It so continued down to the fourth of July, 1836.

A retrospective glance at the history of this region for forty years previous to the last mentioned year, including the time which elapsed after the surrender of the western posts, in 1796, by the British, discloses many facts of interest and importance.

The Anglo-Americans, not long after the region of country west of Lake Michigan became a part of Indiana Territory, began now and then to cast an eye, either through the opening of the Great Lakes or the Mississippi, upon its rolling rivers, its outspread prairies, and its dense forests, and to covet the goodly land ; but the settlers at Green Bay and Prairie du Chien were mostly French Canadians at this date, although a few were Americans. The General Govtrninent, however, began to take measures preparatory to its occupation, by purchasing, in 1804, a tract in what is now the southwest portion of the State, of the Indians, and by holding the various tribes to a strict account for any murders committed by them on American citizens i)assing through their territories or trading with them. Comparative peace reigned in the incipient settlements at the head of Green bay and at the mouth of the Wisconsin, which was changed by the breaking out of the war of 1812, with Great Britain.

The English early succeeded in securing the Wisconsin Indian tribes as their allies in this war; and the taking of Mackinaw by the British in July, 1812, virtually put the latter in possession of what is now the eastern portion of the State. Early in 1814, the government authorities of the United States caused to be fitted out at St. Louis a large boat, having on board all the men that could be mustered and spared from the lower country, and sent up the Mississippi to protect the upper region and the few settlers therein. The troops landed at Prairie du Chien, -and immediately proceeded to fortify. Not long after, Colonel McKay, of the British army, crossing the country by course of the Fo.\ and Wisconsin rivers, with over five hundred British and Indians, received the surrender of the whole force. The officers and men were paroled and sent down the river. This was the only battle fought upon Wisconsin soil during the last war with England. The post at Prairie du Chien was left in command of a captain with two companies from Mackinaw. He remained there until after the peace of 1815, when the place was evacuated by the British.

When it became generally known to the Indian tribes in what is now Wisconsin, that the contest between the United States and Great Britain was at an end, they generally e.xpressed themselves as ready and willing to make treaties with the General Government - eager, in fact, to establish friendly relations with the power they had so recently been hostile to. This was, therefore, a favorable moment for taking actual possession of the country between the Mississippi and Lake Michigan ; and United States troops were soon ordered to occupy the two prominent points between Green Bay and Prairie du Chien. At the former place was erected Fort Howard ; at the latter Fort Crawford. At Green Bay, half a hundred (or less) French Canadians cultivated the soil; at Prairie du Chien, there were not more than thirty houses, mostly occupied by traders, while on the prairie outside the village, a number of farms were cultivated. Such was Wisconsin when, at the close of the last war with Great Britain, it began in earnest to be occupied by Americans. The latter were few in number, but in 1818, they began to feel, now that the country was attached to Michigan Territory and the laws of the United States were extended over them, that they were not altogether beyond the protection of a government of their own, notwithstanding they were surrounded by savage tribes. Their happiness was increased upon the erection, by proclamation of Lewis Cass, governor of the Territory of Michigan, of three Territorial counties: Michilimackinac, Brown and Crawford. Their establishment dates the twenty-sixth of October, iSiS. The county of Michilimackinac not only included all of the present State of Wisconsin lying north of a line drawn due west from near the head of the Little Noquet bay, but territory east and west of it, so as to reach from Lake Huron to the Mississi[)pi river. Its county seat was established "at the Borough of Michilimackinac." The whole area in Michigan Territory south of the county of Michilimackinac and west of Lake Michigan formed the two counties of Brown and Crawford: the former to include the area east of a line drawn due north and south through the middle of the portage between the Fox river of Green bay and the Wisconsin ; the latter to include the whole region west of that line. Prairie du Chien was designated as the county seat of Crawford; Green Bay, of Brown county. On the 22d of December, 1826, a county named Chippewa was formed from the northern portions of Michilimackinac, including the southern shores of Lake Superior throughout its entire length, and extending from the straits leading from that lake into Lake Huron, west to the western boundary line of Michigan Territory, with the county seat " at such point in the vicinity of the Sault de Ste. Marie, as a majority of the county commissioners to be appointed shall designate." Embraced within this county, - its southern boundary being the ])arallel 46° 31' north latitude, - was all the territory of the present State of Wisconsin now bordering on Lake Superior.

Immediately upon the erection of Brown and Crawford counties, they were organized, and their offices filled by appointment of the governor. County courts were established, consisting of one chief and two associate justices, either of whom formed"^ quorum. They were required to hold one term of court annually in their respective counties. These county courts had original and exclusive jurisdiction in all civil cases, both in law and equity, where the matter in dispute exceeded the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace, and did not exceed the value of one thousand dollars. They had, however, no jurisdiction in ejectment. They had exclusive cognizance of all offenses the punishment whereof was not capital, and the same power to issue remedial and other process, writs of error and mandamus excepted, that the supreme court had at Detroit. Appeals from justices of the peace were made to the county courts.

The establishing of Indian agencies by the General Government ; the holding of treaties with some of the Indian tribes ; the adjustment of land claims at Green Bay and Prairie du Chien ; the appointment of postmasters at these two points, were all indications of a proper interest being taken by the United States in the affairs of the country. But a drawback to this region, was the fact that, in all civil cases of over a thousand dollars, and in criminal cases that were capital, as well as in actions of ejectment, and in the allowance of writs of error, and mandamus, recourse must be had to the supreme court at Detroit ; the latter place being the seat of government of Michigan Territory. However, in January, 1S23, an act of congress provided for a district court, and for the appointment of a judge, for the counties of Brown, Crawford, and Michilimackinac. This court had concurrent jurisdiction, civil and criminal, with the supreme court of the Territory, in most cases, subject, however, to have its decisions taken to the latter tribunal by a writ of error. The law provided for holding one term of court in each year, in each of the counties named in the act ; so, at last, there was to be an administration of justice at home, and the people were to be relieved from all military arbitrations, which frequently had been imposed upon them. James Duane Doty was appointed judge of this court at its organization. A May term of the court was held in Prairie du Chien; a June term in Green Bay; a July term in " the Borough of Michilimackinac," in each year. In 1824, Henry S. Baird, of Brown county, was appointed district attorney. Doty held the office of judge until May, 1832, when he was succeeded by David Irvin. This court continued until 1S36, when it was abrogated by the organization of the Territory of Wisconsin.

western portion of the State; but it was not until the year 1825, and the two following years, that very general attention was attracted to them, which eventuated in the settlement of different places in that region, by Americans, who came to dig for lead ore. This rapid increase of settlers awakened the jealousy of the Winnebago Indians, at what they deemed an unauthorized intrusion upon their lands, which, with other causes operating unfavorably upon their minds, aroused them in June, 1S27, to open acts of hostility. Murders became frequent. Finally, the militia of Prairie du Chien were called out. On the twenty-ninth of August, Brigadier-General Henry Atkinson, of the United States army, with a strong force of regulars, ascended the Wisconsin river to put an end to any further spread of Winnebago disturbances. He was joined on the first of September, by one hundred and thirty Galena volunteers, mounted, and under command of General Henry Dodge. The Winnebagoes were awed into submission. Thus ended the " Winnebago War.'' It was followed by the erection at the portage of Fort Winnebago, bv the United States.

After the restoration of tranquillity, the United States proceeded by treaty with the Indians, to secure the right to occupy the lead regions. This was in 1828. The next year, the General Government purchased of the Winnebagoes, Southwestern Wisconsin, which put an end to all trouble on account of mining operations. On the ninth of October, 1829, a county was formed, by the legislative council of the Territory of Michigan, comprising all that part of Crawford county lying south of the Wisconsin river. This new county was called Iowa. The county seat was temporarily established at Mineral Point. Following this was a treaty in 1831, with the Menomonees, for all their lands east of Green bay, Winnebago lake, and the Fo.x and Milwaukee rivers.

There was now a crisis at hand. The most prominent event to be recorded in the pre-Territorial annals of Wisconsin is known as the Black Hawk War. This conflict of arms between the Sacs and Fo.xes and the United States arose from a controversy in regard to lands. By a treaty made at Fort Harmar, just across the River Muskingum from Marietta, Ohio, in January, 1789, the Pottawattamie and Sac tribes of Indians, among others, were received into the friendship of the General Government, and a league of peace and unity established between the contracting parties On the third of November, 1804, a treaty at St. Louis stipulated that the united Sac and Fox tribes should be received into the friendship of the United States, and also be placed under their protection. These tribes also agreed to consider themselves under the protection of the General Government and of no other power whatsoever. At this treaty lands were ceded which were circumscribed by a bouridary beginning at a point on the Missouri river opposite the mouth of the Gasconade, and running thence in a direct course so as to strike the River Jefferson at the distance of thirty miles from its mouth, and down that stream to the Mississippi. It then ran up the latter river to the mouth of the Wisconsin, and up that stream to a point thirty-six miles in a direct line from its mouth ; thence by a straight course to a point where the Fox river of the Illinois leaves the small lake then called Sakaegan, and from that point down the Fox to the Illinois, and down the latter to the Mississippi. The consideration for this cession was the payment of goods to the value of two thousand two hundred and thirty-four dollars and fifty cents, and a yearly annuity of one thousand dollars - six hundred to be paid to the Sacs and four hundred to the Foxes - to be liquidated in goods valued at first cost. Afterward, Fort Madison was erected just above the Des Moines rapids in the Mississippi, on the territory ceded at the last mentioned treaty. Then followed the war with Great Britain, and the Sacs and Foxes agreed to take no part therein. However, a portion afterward joined the English against the Americans along with other Western tribes. At the restoration of peace the Sacs and Foxes held treaties with the United States. There was a renewal of the treaty of 1804.

Pke-Tekritorial Aknals Of Wisconsin

Such in brief is a general outline of affairs, so far as those two tribes were concerned, down to the close of the last war with England. From this time, to the year 1830, several additional treaties were made with the Sacs and Foxes by the General Government: one in 1822, by whicli they relinquished their right to have the United States establish a trading house or factory at a convenient point at which the Indians could trade and save themselves from the imposition of traders, for which they were paid the sum of one thousand dollars in merchandise. Again, in 1824, they sold to the General Government all their lands in Missouri, north of Missouri river, for which they received one thousand dollars the same year, and an annuity of one thousand dollars for ten years. In 1830, they ceded to the United States a strip of land twenty miles wide from the Mississippi to the Des Moines, on the north side of their territory. The time had now come for the two tribes to leave the eastern shore of the Mississippi and retire across the " great water." Keokuk, the Watchful Fox, erected his wigwam on the west side of the river, and was followed by a large part of the two tribes. But a band headed by Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiah, or the Black Sparrow Hawk, commonly called Black Hawk, refused to leave their village near Rock Island. They contended that they had not sold their town to the United States ; and, upon their return early in 1831, from a hunt across the Mississippi, finding their village and fields in possession of the whites, they determined to repossess their homes at all hazards. This was looked upon, or called, an encroachment by the settlers ; so the governor of Illinois took the responsibility of declaring the State invaded, and asked the United States to drive the refractory Indians beyond the Mississippi. The result was, the Indian village was destroyed by Illinois volunteers. This and the threatened advance across the river by the United States commander, brought Black Hawk and his followers to terms. They sued for peace - agreeing to remain forever on the west side of the Mississippi. But this truce was of short duration.

Early in the Spring of 1832, Black Hawk having assembled his forces on the Mississippi, in the vicinity of the locality where Fort Madison had stood, crossed that stream and ascended Rock river. This was the signal for war. The governor of Illinois made a call for volunteers ; and, in a brief space of time, eighteen hundred had assembled at Beardstown, Cass county. They marched for the mouth of Rock river, where a council of war was held by their officers and Brigadier-General Henry Atkinson, of the regular force.s. The Indians were sent word by General Atkinson that they must return and recross the Mississippi, or they would be driven back by force. " If you wish to fight us, come on," was the laconic but defiant reply of the Sac chief. When the attempt was made to compel these Indians to go back across the " great river," a collision occurred between the Illinois militia and Black Hawk's braves, resulting in the discomfiture of the former with the loss of eleven men. Soon afterward the volunteers were discharged, and the first campaign of Black Hawk's War was at an end. This was in May, 1832.

In June following, a new force had been raised and put under the command of General .\tkinson, who commenced his inarch up Rock river. Before this, there had been a general "forting" in the lead region, including the whole country in Southwest Wisconsin, notwithstanding which, a number of settlers had been killed by the savages, mostly in Illinois. Squads of volunteers, in two or three instances, had encountered the Indians ; and in one with entire success - upon the Pecatonica, in what is now Lafayette county, Wisconsin - every savage (and there were seventeen of them) being killed. The loss of the volunteers was three killed and wounded. Atkinson's march up Rock river was attended with some skirmishing; when, being informed that Black Hawk and his force were at Lake Koshkonong, in the southwest corner of what is now Jefferson county, Wisconsin, he immediately moved thither with a portion of his army, where the whole force was ordered to concentrate. But the Sac chief with his people had flown. Colonels Henry Dodge and James D. Henry, with the forces under them, discovered the trail of the savages, leading in the direction of the Wisconsin river. It was evident that the retreating force was largef and that it had but recently passed. The pursuing troops hastened their march. On the twenty-first of July, 1832, they arrived at the hills which skirt the left bank of that stream, in what is now Roxbury town (township), Dane county. Here was Black Hawk's whole force, including women and children, the aged and infirm, hastening by every effort to escape across the river. But that this might nov/ be effected, it became necessary for that chief to make a firm stand, to cover the retreat. The Indians were in the bottom lands when the pursuing whites made their appearance upon the heights in their rear. Colonel Dodge occupied the front and sustained the first attack of the Indians. He was soon joined by Henry with his force, when they obtained a complete victory. The action commenced about five o'clock in the afternoon and ended at sunset. The enemy, numbering not less than five hundred, sustained a loss of about sixty killed and a large number wounded. The loss of the Americans was one killed and eight wounded. This conflict has since been known as the battle of Wisconsin Heights.

During the night following the battle. Black Hawk made his escape with his remaining force and people down the Wisconsin river. The women and children made their way down stream in canoes, while the warriors marched on foot along the shore. The Indians were pursued in their flight, and were finally brought to a stand on the Mississippi river, near the mouth of the Bad Axe, on the west boundary of what is now Vernon county, Wisconsin. About two o'clock on the morning of the second of August, the line of march began to the scene of the lust conflict in the Black Hawk War. Dodge's command formed the advance, supported by regular troops, under Colonel Zachary Taylor, afterward president of the United States. Meanwhile an armed steamboat had moved up the Mississippi and lay in front of the savages; so they were attacked on all sides by the exasperated Americans. The battle lasted about two hours, and was a complete victory for the whites. Black Hawk fled, but was soon after captured. This ended the war.

The survey of public lands by the General Government ; the locating and opening of land offices at Mineral Point and Green Bay; the erection of Milwaukee county from a part of Brown, to include all the territory bounded on the east and south by the east and south lines of the present State, on the north by what is now the north boundary of Washington and Ozaukee counties and farther westward on the north line of township numbered twelve, and on the west by the dividing line between ranges eight and nine ; and the changing of the eastern boundary of Iowa county to correspond with the western one of Milwaukee county; - are some of the important events following the close of the Black Hawk war. There was an immediate and rapid increase of immigration, not only in the mining region but in various other parts of what is now Wisconsin, more especially in that portion bordering on Lake Michigan. The interior was yet sparsely settled. By the act of June 28, 1S34, congress having attached to the Territory of Michigan, for judicial purposes, all the country "west of the Mississippi river, and north of the State of Missouri," comprising the whole of what is now the State of Iowa, all of the present State of Minnesota west of the Mississippi river, and more than half of what is now the Territory of Dakota, the legislative council of Michigan Territory extended her laws over the whole area, dividing it on the 6th of September, 1834, by a line drawn due west from the lower end of Rock island to the Missouri river into two counties: the country south of that line constituting the county of Des Moines; north of the line, to be known as the county of Dubuque. This whole region west of the Mississippi was known as the Iowa district. Immediately after the treaty of 1832 with the Sacs and Foxes, the United States having come into ownership of a large tract in this district, several families crossed the Mississippi, and settled on the purchase, but as the time provided for the Indians to give possession was the first of June, 1S33, these settlers were dispossessed by order of the General Government. So soon, however, as the Indians yielded possession, settlements began, but, from the date just mentioned until September, 1834, after the district was attached, for judicial purposes, to Michigan Territory, it was without any municipal law whatever. The organization of the counties of Dubuque and Des Moines on the sixth of that month, secured, of course a regular administration of justice. In 1835, in order to facilitate intercourse between the two remote military posts of Fort Howard at Green Bay, and Fort Crawford at Prairie du Chien, a military road was commenced to connect the two points ; so, one improvement followed another. On the 9th of January, 1836, a session (the first one) of the seventh legislative council of Michigan Territory - - that is, of so much of it as lay to the westward of Lake Michigan - was held at Green Bay, and a memorial adopted, asking Congress for the formation of a new Territory west of that lake ; to include all of Michigan Territory not embraced in the proposed State of Michigan. Congress, as will now be shown, very soon complied with the request of the memorialists.

The establishing of a separate and distinct Territory west of Lake Michigan, was the result of the prospective admission of Michigan into the Union (an event which took place not until the twenty-sixth of January, 1837), as the population, in all the region outside of the boundaries determined upon by the people for that State, would otherwise be left without a government, or, at least, it would be necessary to change the capital of the old Michigan Territory farther to the westward ; so it was thought best to erect a new territory, to be called Wisconsin (an Indian word signifying wild rushing water, or channel, so called from the principal eastern tributary of the Mississippi within its borders), which was done by an act of congress, approved April 20, 1836, to take effect from and after the third day of July following. The Territory was made to include all that is now embraced within the States of Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and a part of the Territory of Dakota, more particularly described within boundaries commencing at the northeast corner of the State of Illinois, running thence through the middle of Lake Michigan to a point opposite the main channel of Green bay ; thence through that channel and the bay to the mouth of the Menomonee river ; thence up that stream to its head, which is nearest the lake of the Desert ; thence to the middle of that lake ; thence down the Montreal river to its mouth ; thence with a direct line across Lake Superior to where the territorial line of the United States last touches the lake'northwest; thence on the north, with the territorial line, to the White Earth river; on the west by a line drawn down the middle of the main channel of that stream to the Missouri ri\^er, and down the middle of the main channel of the last mentioned stream to the northwest corner of the State of Missouri ; and thence with the boundaries of the States of Missouri and Illinois, as already fixed by act of congress, to the place or point of beginning. Its counties were Brovvn, Milwaukee, Iowa, Crawford, Dubuque, and Des Moines, with a portion of Chippewa and Michilimackinac left unorganized. Although, at this time, the State of Michigan was only engaged, so to speak, to the Union, to include the two peninsulas (many of its citizens preferring in lieu thereof the lower one only, with a small slice off the northern boundary of the State of Ohio as now constituted), yet the marriage ceremony was performed, as has been stated, a few months afterward.

The act of congress establishing the Territorial government of Wisconsin was very full and complete. It first determined its boundaries ; then it declared that all authority of the government of Michigan over the new Territory should cease on the fourth day of July, 1836, with a proper reservation of rights in favor of the Indians. It provided for subsequently dividing tne Territory into one or more, should congress deem it wise so to do. It also declared that the executive power and authority in and over the Territory should be vested in a governor, at the same time defining his powers. It provided for the appointment of a secretary, stating what his duties should be. The legislative power was vested in the governor and legislative assembly, the latter to consist of a council and house of representatives, answering respectively to the senate and assembly, as states are usually organized. There was a provision for taking the census of the several. counties, and one giving the governor power to name the time, place, and manner of holding the first election, and to declare the number of members of the council and house of representatives to which each county should be entitled. He was also to determine where the first legislative assembly should meet, and a wise provision was that the latter should not be in session in any one year more than seventy-five days.

One section of the act declared who should be entitled to vote and hold office; another defined the extent of the powers of the legislature, and a third provided that all laws should be submitted to congress for their approval or rejection. There was a section designating what offices should be elective and what ones should be filled by the governor. There were others regulating the judiciary for the Territory and declaring what offices should be appointed by the United States, providing for their taking the proper oaths of office and regulating their salaries. One, perhaps the most important of all, declared that the Territory should be entitled to and enjoy all the rights, privileges, and advantages granted by the celebrated ordinance of 1787. There was also a provision for the election of a delegate to the house of representatives of the United States ; and a declaration that all suits and indictments pending in the old courts should be continued in the new ones. Five thousand dollars were appropriated for a library for the accommodation of the legislative assembly of the Territory and of its supreme court.

For the new Territory, Henry Dodge was, on the 30th of April, 1S36, by Andrew Jackson, then President of the United States, commissioned governor. John S. Horner was commissioned secretary ; Charles Dunn, chief justice ; David Irvin and William C. Frazer, associate judges ; W. W. Chapman, attorney, and Francis Gehon, marshal. The machinery of a territorial government was thus formed, which was set in motion by these officers taking the prescribed oath of office. The next important step to be taken was to organize the Territorial legislature. The provisions of the organic act relative to the enumeration of the population of the Territory were that previously to the first election, the governor should cause the ceusus of the inhabitants of the several counties to be taken by the several sheriffs, and that the latter should make returns of the same to the Executive. These figures gave to Des Moines county, 6,257 ; Iowa county, 5,234; Dubuque county, 4,274; Milwaukee county, 2,893; Brown county, 2,706; Crawford county, 850. The entire population, therefore, of Wisconsin Territory in the summer of 1836, as given by the first census was, in precise numbers, twenty-two thousand two hundred and fourteen, of which the two counties west of the Mississippi furnished nearly one half. The apportionment, after the census had been taken, made by the governor, gave to the different counties thirteen councilmen and twenty-six representatives. Brown county got two councilmen and three representatives; Crawford, two representatives, but no councilmen; Milwaukee, two councilmen and three representatives ; Iowa, Dubuque and Des Moines, each three councilmen ; but of representatives, Iowa got six ; Dubuque, five, and Des Moines, seven. The election was held on the tenth of October, 1836, exciting considerable interest, growing out, chiefly, of local considerations. The permanent location of the capital, the division of counties, and the location of county seats, were the principal questions influencing the voters. There were elected from the county of Brown, Henry S. Baird and John P. Arndt, members of the council; Ebenezer Childs, Albert

Wisconsin Territory

G. Ellis and Alexander J. Irwin, members of the house of representatives; from Milwaukee, the councilmen were Gilbert Knapp and Alanson Sweet ; representatives, William B. Sheldon, Madison W. Cornwall and Charles Durkee : from Iowa, councilmen, EbenezerBrigham, John B. Terry and James R. Vineyard ; representatives, William Boyles, G. F. Smith, D. M. Parkinson, Thomas McKnight, T. Shanley and J. P. Cox : from Dubuque, councilmen, John Foley, Thomas McCraney and Thomas McKnight ; representatives, Loring Wheeler, Hardin Nowlin, Hosea T, Camp, P. H. Engle and Patrick Quigley : from Des Moines, councilmen, Jeremiah Smith, Jr., Joseph B. Teas and Arthur B. Inghram ; representatives, Isaac Leffler, Thomas Blair, Warren L. Jenkins, John Box, George W. 'Feas, Eli Reynolds and David R. Chance : from Crawford, representatives, James H. Lockwood and James B. Dallam.

Belmont, in the present county of LaFayette, then in Iowa county, was, by the governor, appointed the place for the meeting of the legislature ; he also fixed the time - the twenty-fifth of October. A quorum was in attendance in both branches at the time decided upon for their assembling, and the two houses were speedily organized by the election of Peter Hill Fngle, of Dubuque, speaker of the house, and Henry S. Baird, of Brown, president of the council. Each of the separate divisions of the government - the executive, the judicial, and the legislative - was now in working order, except that it remained for the legislature to divide the Territory into judicial districts, and make an assignment of the judges ; and for the governor to appoint a Territorial treasurer, auditor and attorney general. The act of congress establishing the Territory required that it should be divided into three judicial districts. The counties of Crawford and Iowa were constitued by the legislature the first district, to which was assigned Chief Justice Dunn. The second district was composed of the counties of Des Moines and Dubuque ; to it was assigned Associate Judge Irvin. The third district was formed of the counties of Brown and Milwaukee, to which was assigned Associate Judge Frazer.

Governor Dodge, in his first message to the Territorial legislature, directed attention to the necessity for defining the jurisdiction and powers of the several courts, and recommended that congress should be memorialized to extend the right of pre-emption to actual settlers upon the public lands and to miners on mineral lands; also, to remove the obstructions in the rapids of the Upper Mississippi, to construct harbors and light-houses on Lake Michigan, to improve the navigation of Fox river and to survey the same from its mouth to Fort Winnebago, to increase the amount of lands granted to the Territory for school purposes, and to organize and arm the militia for the protection of the frontier settlements. The first act passed by the legislature was one privileging members from arrest in certain cases and conferring on themselves power to punish parties for contempt. The second one established the three judicial districts and assigned the judges thereto. One was passed to borrow money to defray the expenses of the session ; others protecting ad lands donated to the Territory by the United States in aid of sc~hools, and creating a common school fund. A memorial to congress was adopted requesting authorization to sell the school-section in each township, and appropriate the money arising therefrom for increasing the fund for schools.

During this session, five counties were "set off" west of the Mississippi river: Lee, Van Buren, Henry, Louisa, Muscatine, and Cook; and fifteen east of that stream : Walworth, Racine, Jefferson, Dane, Portage, Dodge, Washington, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac, Calumet, Manitowoc, Marquette, Rock, Grant and Green.

The principal question agitating the legislature at its first session was the location of the capital. Already the people west of the Mississippi were speculating upon the establishment of a Territory on that side the river, prospects for which would be enhanced evidently, by placing the seat of government somewhat in a central position east of that stream, for Wisconsin

Territory. Now, as Madison waS a point answering such requirements she triumphed over all competitors; and the latter numbered a dozen or more - including, among others, Fond du Lac, Milwaukee, Racine, Relmont, Mineral Point, Green Bay, and Cassville. The struggle over this question was one of the most exciting ever witnessed in the Territorial legislature. Madison was fixed upon as the seat of government, but it was provided that sessions of the legislature should be held at Burlington, in Des Aloines county, until the fourth of March, 1839, unless the public buildings in the new capital should be sooner completed. After an enactment that the legislature should thereafter meet on the first Monday of November of each year, both houses, on the ninth day of December, 1836, adjourned sine die.

In the act of congress establishing the Territory of Wisconsin it was provided that a delegate to the house of representatives of the United States, to serve for the term of two years, should be elected by the voters qualified to elect members of the legislative assembly-, and that the first election should be held at such time and place or places, and be conducted in such manner as the governor of the Territory should appoint and direct. In pursuance of this enactment. Governor Dodge directed that the election for delegate should be at the time and places appointed for the election of members of the legislative assembly - the loth of October, 1836. The successful candidate for that office was George W. Jones, of Sinsinawa Mound, Iowa county - in that portion which was afterward "set off" as (irant county. Jones, under the act of 1819, had been elected a delegate for Michigan Territory, in October, 1835, and took his seat at the ensuing session, in December of that year. By the act of June 15, 1836, the constitution and State government which the people of Michigan had formed for themselves was accepted, ratified and confirmed, and she was declared to be one of the United States of America, so that the term of two years for which Jones had been elected was cut short, as, in the nature of the case, his term could not survive the existence of the Territory he represented. But, as he was a candidate for election to represent the new Territory of Wisconsin in congress as a delegate, and was successful, he took his seat at the commencement of the second session of the twenty-fourth congress - December 12, 1836, notwithstanding he had been elected only a little over two months.

The first term of the supreme court of the Territory was held at Belmont on the 8th day of December. There were present, Charles Dunn, chief justice, and David Irvin, associate judge. John Catlin was appointed clerk, and Henry S. Baird having previously been commissioned attorney general for the Territory by Governor Dodge, appeared before the court and took the oath of office. Causes in which the United States was party or interested were looked after by the United States attorney, who received his appointment from the president; while all cases in which the Territory was interested was attended to by the attorney general, whose commission was signed by the governor. The appointing of a crier and reporter and the admission of several attorneys to jiractice, completed the business for the term. The annual term appointed for the third Monday of July of the following year, at Madison, was not held; as no business for the action of the court had matured.